Congressman Jeff Miller is imploring President Barack Obama to prevent further mismanagement at the Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers, according to a statement Miller released late last week.
Miller, who chairs the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, said he is alarmed by a “heartbreaking” pattern of patient care issues over the last few years at medical centers across the nation. Patients at the clinics have committed suicide, overdosed and contracted fatal infections because of a lack of proper care.
He said he is concerned that no one is being held accountable and, in some cases, responsible parties apparently are being rewarded with bonuses and promotions.
“For months Congress has tried in vain to compel VA leaders to take meaningful steps to prevent future deaths and adverse incidents,” Miller said Wednesday. “That is why we are asking for President Obama’s help in ensuring that substandard care for veterans will not be tolerated.”
About 6 million veterans use the VA for health care.
Miller sent a letter to Obama on May 21, but reported last week that he had not received a response.
Read a copy of Miller's letter to President Obama. >>
In the letter, Miller cited a case at a center in Atlanta in which the VA’s inspector general found that failures in management, oversight and leadership contributed to one veteran’s suicide and the deaths of two other veterans from overdoses.
Miller visited the clinic in early May and learned no one had been fired or otherwise held accountable.
He said in the letter that when asked during the visit whether any other patient deaths had occurred, none of the clinic’s leaders told Miller that a second patient had committed suicide.
“The complacency and deceitfulness of VA leadership at both the local and central office levels cannot be tolerated when the health and safety of our veterans and their families are at stake,” Miller said in the letter.
He said the deaths in Atlanta were just the latest in a long string of tragedies that highlight a culture of systemic complacency and failure to meet the health care needs of at-risk veterans.
Other examples include five patients who died from a Legionella outbreak in the Pittsburgh VA health care system; whistle-blower complaints, poor sterilization, understaffing and missed diagnoses reported in Jackson, Miss.; and veterans possibly being exposed to hepatitis and HIV at centers in western New York.
While Congress was investigating the incidents in Pittsburgh, its executive director was awarded a nearly $63,000 bonus, according to a news release Miller issued earlier this year.
Miller said in last week’s release that Obama’s direct involvement and leadership is required to change the VA culture that is jeopardizing patients’ safety.
“The department’s pattern of rewarding failure and avoiding serious consequences for poorly performing employees may be encouraging veteran suffering rather than stopping it,” he said Wednesday.
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Lauren Sage Reinlie at 850-315-4443 or lreinlie@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @LaurenRnwfdn.