INVESTIGATION: Veterans Are Not Receiving Adequate Care

In 2009, President Obama gave a speech on military veterans and noted that too many wounded warriors go without the care that they need. Too many veterans don’t receive the support that they’ve earned. Too many who once wore our nation’s uniform now sleep in our nation’s streets.

A new investigative report by CNN claims that many veterans are being forced to wait months for medical care. According to the Cable News Network, in Phoenix more than 1,400 sick veterans were forced to wait months to see a doctor. The investigation also claims that the veteran hospital in Arizona had two lists for patient appointments, one list was an official list shared with administrators in Washington while the other was a list hidden from outsiders where wait times could last more than a year.

Additionally, the news network obtained e-mails from July 2013 wherein the Phoenix VA Director Sharon Helman was aware of the actual wait times for seeing veterans, knew about the hidden list and defended its use to staff.

The allegations have gotten the attention of the U.S. House Veterans Affairs Committee whose chairman has been investigating delays in care at veteran hospitals across the United States. Congress has now ordered all records in Phoenix to be preserved.

In 2013, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) confirmed with CNN that six deaths at Bryan Dorn Veterans Medical Center in South Carolina had been tied to delays in medical care.

In a memorandum from the Administrative Investigation Board of the VA noted that at that same facility an email from July confirmed that there was a backlog of 2,500 consults scheduled through February 2012. By December 2011 the backlog had increased to 3,800. The memorandum goes on to conclude that the backlogs of the clinic contributed to poor patient care outcomes.

Debra Draper of the Government Accountability Office said in a statement to CNN that long wait times have been a persistent problem for the VA and that the Government Accountability Office and VA have been reporting on these issues for more than a decade.

Veteran benefits can be difficult to obtain and those who fought for our country should not have to continue waiting to receive the benefits and care that they are entitled to. If you or a loved one has been denied benefits or access to medical care, call a veterans’ benefits attorney at Phillips Law Group today: 1-800-706-3000 .