Another VA crock: Despicable behavior

Friday, August 6, 2010

The Department of Veterans Affairs continues to fail taxpayers and those who've worn this nation's uniform. That's inexcusable. And now, to add insult to injury, the VA is punishing staffers who blow the whistle on such failings. That's intolerable.

A VA inspector general's report found that $6.3 million intended for research and treatment of traumatic brain injuries was spent without treating any veterans. And soon after the director of the agency's brain imaging lab in Texas questioned how $2 million of that was spent, he was removed from his job.

"It appears that the VA diverted the money ... and punished one of its doctors for pointing out this abuse of taxpayers' funds," says a letter in which Richard Burr, ranking Republican on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, and Brad Miller, Democrat chairman of the House Science and Technology Committee's Investigations Subcommittee, demand answers from VA Secretary Eric Shinseki.

Hopefully, he'll also explain the dismissal of a Veterans Affairs radiologist in Pittsburgh who questioned spending and treatment practices. And why the VA places punishing whistle-blowers ahead of fulfilling its sacred duty to veterans.

By compounding the formidable hardships veterans face and adding to taxpayers' burden, the VA makes a prima facie case for reform that it desperately needs.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsbu ... 93629.html