Anatomy of a Scandal — #VAScandal #VeteransAdministration

At Politico, "Anatomy of a Veterans’ Affairs scandal":

It began in 2012 when scattered reports of mismanagement at VA hospitals started to emerge across the country, from vets contracting Legionnaires disease at a VA hospital in Pittsburgh to the deaths of several vets after an Atlanta VA hospital lost track of patients to a November 2013 report on CNN that the nation’s soldiers were dying in a Columbia, S.C., VA hospital as they waited for routine gastrointestinal tests.

But the scandal occupying Obama and Congress today first came to light, albeit unnoticed by the national press, in December last year, when Dr. Sam Foote, a doctor of internal medicine at the Phoenix VA, retired and began meeting with Arizona Republic reporter Dennis Wagner with detailed allegations that patients were placed on a secret waiting list and several died while awaiting care.

Foote also sent letters in February to Rep Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) Sen. John McCain, (R-Ariz.) Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, (D-Ariz.) and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, according to the Arizona Republic.

On April 9, Miller, chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, attempted to nudge the issue into the spotlight when he held a hearing and said that his investigators had evidence the Phoenix VA kept two sets of records in order to conceal prolonged waits for appointments - a fake set to show timely care and real records reflecting the appalling delays.

The following day on April 10, the Arizona Republic published a report detailing Foote’s allegations, along with the moving story of a 71-year-old Navy veteran Thomas Breen who died of bladder cancer after repeated attempts by he and his family to schedule an appointment at the hospital.

“They (administrators) just don’t respect any rules at all,” Foote told the Republic. “They just don’t care. … They beat me to the ground. I retired just exactly so I could do this.”

McCain and Jeff Flake quickly added more fuel to the fire by releasing a joint statement calling for a Senate investigation. But the story remained a local one.

Veterans groups, however, began to step up the pressure. On April 16, Concerned Veterans for America organized a protest in Phoenix about the VA problems that drew 150 people, according to the Republic.

Then, on April 23, CNN aired a bombshell report on the Phoenix VA called “A Fatal Wait” by the investigative team led by Griffin. The broadcast revealed internal e-mails showing that top management at the hospital in Arizona knew about the practice of shredding evidence of veterans requesting appointments to make it seem as though the waiting times were shorter.

“Drew Griffin and his team have been persistent in their reporting on, and digging into, the VA scandal for over a year now, and their pieces have found a home on AC360 as part of the Keeping them Honest franchise,” CNN President Jeff Zucker said in a statement to POLITICO. “This story is one of many great pieces coming out of our investigative unit, and it demonstrates the breadth of reporting CNN is capable of; we are glad this story has gotten the national attention – and action - our vets deserve.”

Keep reading.