Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., introduced legislation Friday that would force kitchens at Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals to undergo rigorous health inspections.
The legislation came in response to recent whistleblower reports of a cockroach infestation at a VA hospital outside Chicago, where “roaches routinely crawl across kitchen countertops and have ended up in veterans’ food.”
“The VA is allowed to conduct its own internal inspections without consequences which has resulted in substandard conditions that private hospitals would never be allowed to have,” Kirk’s office said in an announcement for the legislation.The Requiring Accountability and Inspections for Dining Service Act, known as the RAID Act, would require the VA to maintain its hospital kitchens at the same standards as private hospitals.
“It’s deplorable that this infestation at the Hines VA has gone on for years and that our nation’s heroes are forced to share a plate with cockroaches,” Kirk said of the Illinois hospital that was allegedly teaming with vermin. “The substandard treatment of our veterans has to stop. The RAID Act will keep VA kitchens clean and our veterans’ food away from roaches.”
Whistleblowers at the Edward Hines VA hospital claimed they were told by VA exterminators to continue business as usual because the cockroach infestation was “not very severe.”
