The institutional ineptness of the VA has buried its monstrous head once again to ignore basic care for our veterans, this time at the Colorado Springs clinic where a new report shows that officials have been falsifying documents to cover up the denial of timely treatment to hundreds of veterans.
This is the same scandal that brought down Obama’s pervious VA secretary, and ushered in new management at the federal agency.
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
The inspector general reviewed 450 cases at the Floyd K. Lindstrom Clinic and found that 68 percent of those veterans were forced to wait 30 days to get care, and that 28 records were falsified to show veterans had same-day appointments, when in fact they waited on average 76 days.
The Colorado Springs Gazette uncovered the scandal, and reports that U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn is demanding answers about one Marine who was deemed a suicide risk by the agency but received no care. The marine killed himself six weeks later.
Nearly everyone in Colorado’s delegation is outraged over the continued failure of the agency to treat our nation’s veterans in a caring and timely manner.
“I am damn tired of the disgraceful treatment the VA is giving our veterans,” (U.S. Rep. Cory) Gardner said. “If they’re not going to drive reforms at the VA, then heads need to roll.”
“The VA never ceases to disappoint me as a veteran,” said (U.S. Rep. Mike) Coffman, who heads a House subcommittee for VA oversight. “There is no leadership in the VA that cares about serving those who served this nation.”
This isn’t the first time Coffman has done battle with VA Secretary Robert McDonald’s failed leadership. Their clash during a public hearing just one year ago made national headlines, and demonstrated that McDonald was not interested in changing the culture that has rotted the VA from the inside out for several years.
The findings in Colorado Springs prove that not only is it time for McDonald to go, but when the entire Obama administration is finally shown the door and our long national nightmare is over, the only way to revamp the VA is to elect a Republican who cares about our military veterans to clean up that mess.