Intimidation, Fear Used To Prevent Potential Whisteblowers From Speaking Out, VA Employees Claim
"If you say anything about patient care and the problems, you're quickly labeled a troublemaker and attacked by a clique that just promotes itself. Your life becomes hell," said one longtime employee at the Central Alabama Veterans Health Care System. In other veterans' health care news: a lawsuit over burn pits, the nomination hearing for the president's pick to lead the VA, and staffing issues at medical centers.
WBUR:
For VA Whistleblowers, A Culture Of Fear And Retaliation
More than 30 current and former VA employees spoke to NPR. They include doctors, nurses and administrators — many of them veterans themselves. All describe an entrenched management culture that uses fear and intimidation to prevent potential whistleblowers from talking. (Westervelt, 6/21)
The Associated Press:
Appeals Court Tosses Veterans' Lawsuits Over Burn Pits
Military veterans who claim that the use of open burn pits during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan caused myriad health problems cannot move forward with dozens of lawsuits against a military contractor, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday. A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with a federal judge in Maryland, who last year threw out the lawsuits brought against KBR, a former Halliburton Corp. subsidiary. (6/20)
The Hill:
Senate Panel Schedules Hearing On Trump VA Pick
President Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) will get a Senate confirmation hearing next week. The Senate Veterans Affairs Committee will take up the nomination of Robert Wilkie on June 27, the committee announced Wednesday. (Weixel, 6/20)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
New Audit: Staffing Shortages Hamper Atlanta VA
The Atlanta VA Medical Center leads the veterans health care system in a negative measurement: the hospital on Clairmont Road has the highest number of staffing shortages of any VA hospital in the country, according to a new audit by the agency’s inspector general. The facility listed 89 positions designated as shortages, including critical clinical jobs such as neurologist, staff nurses and pathologist. (Schrade, 6/20)
