Manipulation of an inspector general’s report that cleared the Department of Veterans of causing patient deaths through delayed care at a Phoenix hospital was blasted Tuesday by two national veterans’ groups.
AMVETS and Concerned Veterans for America issued a joint statement calling changes made to the IG’s final report “inexcusable.”
“[The] IG investigation was initiated to get to the truth of these allegations and to hear that VA administrators may have manipulated its findings is outrageous,” the joint statement said.
“The tainted report sought to absolve the agency of responsibility for veterans who died waiting on secret wait lists at the hospital by setting an impossible causation standard for patient deaths.
“If this is due to deliberate tampering by VA officials, Congress must find out who ordered the changes and bring those people to justice.”
The joint statement was issued by Stewart Hickey, executive director of AMVETS, and Pete Hegseth, chief executive officer of CVA.
The House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs will grill Richard Griffin, acting VA inspector general, at a Wednesday hearing on the changes made between the draft and final versions of the report.
Also scheduled to testify are VA Secretary Robert McDonald, as well as Sam Foote, the whistleblower who revealed allegations about manipulated patient waiting lists to hide delays in care.
The Washington Examiner first reported last week that critical changes were made to the IG’s final report on its Phoenix investigation after it sent a draft copy to agency executives for comment.
The most important change, subsequently confirmed by Griffin, was insertion of a statement that investigators could not directly link delays to any patient deaths.
“While the case reviews in this report document poor quality of care, we are unable to conclusively assert that the absence of timely quality care caused the deaths of these veterans,” the final IG report stated.
No such language appeared in the draft version that was sent by the IG to VA officials for comment. VA officials touted that the conclusion in an agency statement leaked to the media before the final report was released last month.
The finding that the IG could not “conclusively” prove delays caused deaths is not typical of what has appeared in prior reports from the office.
Medical examiners also say the language is puzzling because delay is not a cause of death.
Griffin insisted that only minor changes were made between the draft report sent to the agency for comment and the final version. He also told a Senate committee last week that “no one in VA dictated that sentence go in that report.”
The House hearing will be broadcast live through the committee’s website.
