Legion pushes for independent VA investigation

Richard Griffin, acting inspector general for the Department of Veterans Affairs, appeared at a Sept. 9 Senate hearing and defended his office’s report on the deaths of veterans at the Phoenix VA Health Care System.

Griffin and VA Secretary Robert McDonald appeared before the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs at a hearing on the state of VA health care. At one point, Sen. Dean Heller, R.-Nev., asked Griffin about the Aug. 26 report’s statement that investigators could not “conclusively assert the absence of timely quality care” actually caused the deaths of any patients at the Phoenix facility.

Heller asked if anyone at VA inserted that sentence into the final report. Griffin said, “No one in VA dictated that sentence go into that report, period.” He said that senior staff at VA’s Office of Inspector General (VAOIG) was responsible for including those specific words.

Once the report was issued, The American Legion called for an independent investigation of the Phoenix VA Health Care System. Newly elected American Legion National Commander Michael D. Helm reiterated that an outside authority needed to scrutinize the deaths of veterans who were kept waiting for medical treatment.

“While VAOIG has revealed how negligent and self-serving VA management can be, the report is still being perceived by some observers as less than genuine,” Helm said. “Having an independent authority investigate the situation in Phoenix will lend more credibility to the findings.”

After the Senate hearing, McDonald called Helm on the phone to discuss the situation in Phoenix. “One of the concerns I mentioned,” Helm said, “was how fast the (Phoenix wait-time) numbers dropped on that health-care side, and I wondered if there might be some gamesmanship going on.”

McDonald replied that if The American Legion sees any evidence of such gamesmanship, he wants to know about it right away. “He’s looking for accountability and so are we,” Helm said. “I think we’re on the same page there.”

The Legion’s double-barreled aim, Helm said, continues to be reducing wait times for America’s veterans in getting access to their medical care and getting their benefits claims processed. “That’s what our Veterans Crisis Command Centers are all about – putting the Legion and VA together in one location to speed the process for veterans," Helm said. "No one who served in uniform should ever have to wait years to get their benefits.”

Helm said that McDonald “seems to be engaged in the job of caring for the veteran. He’s not there for the VA, he’s not there for the government, he’s there for the veteran, and I look forward to working with him.”