Officials at the embattled Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in Phoenix have held onto their jobs despite an internal review that uncovered evidence they had retaliated against whistleblowers.
The year-old report, which has not yet been made public by the VA, offered a detailed account of the retaliation two whistleblowers faced when they attempted to report wrongdoing at the Phoenix facility.
For example, Paula Pedene in the Phoenix system’s public affairs office said her budget was slashed and her staff reduced in 2012 after she raised “multiple allegations of misconduct and mismanagement.”
Pedene, who is legally blind, was then reassigned from the public affairs department and placed under investigation for an alleged “computer security violation” after she allowed her husband to log onto her work computer and upload pictures he had taken of a Veterans Day parade.
Nearly a year later, in November 2013, Pedene was notified by her superiors that they intended to demote her.
Among the reasons Pedene told investigators she believed she was the target for retaliation was the fact that she maintained contact with Dr. Sam Foote, the Phoenix VA doctor who exposed the existence of secret patient waiting lists last year. Foote’s disclosures brought to light the nationwide scandal that led to the resignation of then-Secretary Eric Shinseki.
The accountability review faulted Lance Robinson, associate director of the Phoenix hospital, and Sharon Helman, former director.
In November of last year, Mike Culpepper, a top official at the Office of Accountability Review, sent a memo to VA Secretary Robert McDonald recommending disciplinary action against Dr. Darren Deering, chief of staff, and Helman for their poor treatment of Dr. Katherine Mitchell, former head of the hospital’s emergency department.
According to the memo, a copy of which was obtained by the Washington Examiner, top officials had looked the other way when nurses mistreated Mitchell, reassigned her and tucked “negative comments” into her performance ratings that were based in part on Mitchell’s “adverse interactions” with the nurses, who were reportedly engaged in a “letter-writing campaign” against her.
Another Culpepper memo from September 2014 indicated Mitchell had raised concerns about poor patient care in the emergency room before the retaliation began.
Not only did her superiors refuse to investigate the allegations, they placed her on administrative leave in 2013 after Mitchell allegedly disclosed some of the problems to Sen. John McCain’s office. Mitchell had sent records to McCain in July 2013 related to the cover-up of delays in patient care.
Deering remains in his position at the Phoenix VA hospital. Robinson was also involved in the decision to suspend Mitchell, according to the memo.
While senior VA staff at the facility were busy retaliating against Mitchell, the Office of Special Counsel, which handles whistleblower complaints from agencies across the federal government, honored Mitchell with a “Public Servant of the Year” award in December of last year.
McCain and Sen. Jeff Flake sent a letter to McDonald Monday demanding to know how many times whistleblowers faced retaliation at the hands of VA managers who then suffered no consequences.
“[W]e were very troubled to learn that your Office of Accountability Review (OAR) conclusively found that whistleblower retaliation occurred at the Phoenix VA Health Care System,” the pair of Arizona Republicans wrote, noting the review recommended punishing the official found to have retaliated against the whistleblower.
“However, this manager remains in a senior leadership position and does not appear to have had any disciplinary action taken in response,” they added.
Helman was removed from her position as head of the Phoenix hospital in November of last year for an unrelated allegation that she improperly accepted gifts.
Robinson is still on paid leave, having been placed under investigation more than 19 months ago.
But few VA executives have ever faced punishment for participating in the litany of scandals that have plagued the agency for nearly two years.
The VA’s Office of Accountability Review conducted the review. It was established last year “to ensure leadership accountability for improprieties related to … whistleblower retaliation,” among other things, according to the agency.
Lawmakers have repeatedly highlighted the agency’s seeming refusal to discipline its employees. A bill that would have removed some of the barriers VA leadership faces when attempting to fire employees was shelved in Congress in October by Democrats.
Rep. Jeff Miller, chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, said Thursday the VA’s continued reluctance to remove wrongdoers contributes to every other problem the agency experiences.
“In this case, the department’s own investigations determined more than a year ago that two high-level Phoenix VA Health Care System administrators retaliated against whistleblowers, yet incredibly VA still hasn’t disciplined these officials for their retaliatory behavior,” Miller said, referring to Deering and Robinson. “The fact that VA’s top leaders have likely known about these issues for more than a year and haven’t acted on the reports’ disciplinary recommendations severely undercuts the credibility of the department’s repeated assertions that whistleblower retaliation will not be tolerated.”
The Florida Republican noted the latest review was conducted by the agency itself through the Office of Accountability Review, not through a third party such as the inspector general. The VA has a history of shrugging off the findings of outside investigators.
“[I]t’s now clear that no matter what type of investigation — including those done by VA itself, the inspector general or Congress — finds misconduct on the part of VA employees, the end result is almost always the same: The department fails to institute meaningful discipline against the employees found to have done wrong,” Miller said.
The VA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
