Dozens of Phoenix-area veterans died after being put on a secret waiting list to see a Veterans Affairs doctor, according to an exclusive CNN report.
The report said Sharon Helman, director of the Phoenix Veterans Affairs Health Care system, and others executed an elaborate scheme to make the facility appear to be running efficiently.
When a veteran requested medical care, his name was entered into a set of records that were kept hidden, according to the report, which quoted a retired VA doctor and unnamed high-level sources. If an appointment opened up over the next 14 days, his name was transferred to the official appointment book, to make it look like the facility had shorter, more efficient wait times.
The scheme meant some veterans waited as long as a year and more to see a physician, with at least 40 dying before getting care.
“The scheme was deliberately put in place to avoid the VA’s own internal rules,” Dr. Sam Foote, who had retired after 24 years at the VA facility in Phoenix, told CNN. “They developed the secret waiting list.”
VA rules require that patients be seen in a timely manner — within 14 to 30 days, Foote told CNN, which reported:
According to Foote, the elaborate scheme in Phoenix involved shredding evidence to hide the long list of veterans waiting for appointments and care. Officials at the VA, Foote says, instructed their staff to not actually make doctor’s appointments for veterans within the computer system.
“So the only record that you have ever been there requesting care was on that secret list,” he said. “And they wouldn’t take you off that secret list until you had an appointment time that was less than 14 days so it would give the appearance that they were improving greatly the waiting times, when in fact they were not.”
This isn’t the first time Helman has been at the center of controversy. Before taking over the Phoenix facility, she ran another VA center in Washington state that was accused of falsifying suicide numbers, according to FoxNews.com.
Watch the report from Anderson Cooper via CNN, then check out “Deputy loses it on retired Marine who was taping her entire meltdown.”
DONATE TO BIZPAC REVIEW
Please help us! If you are fed up with letting radical big tech execs, phony fact-checkers, tyrannical liberals and a lying mainstream media have unprecedented power over your news please consider making a donation to BPR to help us fight them. Now is the time. Truth has never been more critical!
- ‘Act like a grownup’: Drunk driver sobs when she loses plea deal by coming 4 hours late to court - July 23, 2017
- ‘I would’ve fired her the day I met her’: Glenn Beck reveals more about Tomi Lahren mess - July 23, 2017
- Canadian thug beats 74-year-old cyclist bloody with a club in road rage fit– and they say US is more violent? - July 23, 2017
Comment
We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.
BPR INSIDER COMMENTS
Scroll down for non-member comments or join our insider conversations by becoming a member. We'd love to have you!
Comments are closed.