WASHINGTON — A top federal investigator has identified “a troubling pattern of deficient patient care” at Veterans Affairs facilities around the country that she says was pointed out by whistle-blowers but downplayed by the department.
The problems went far beyond the extraordinarily long wait time for some appointments — and the attempts to cover them up — that has put the department under intense scrutiny.
In a letter Monday to President Barack Obama, Carolyn Lerner of the U.S. Office of Special Counsel cited canceled appointments with no follow-up, drinking water contaminated with the bacteria that causes Legionnaires’ disease, and improper handling of surgical equipment and supplies.
Acting VA Secretary Sloan Gibson said he had launched a departmental review to be completed within 14 days. “I am deeply disappointed not only in the substantiation of allegations raised by whistle-blowers, but also in the failures within VA to take whistle-blower complaints seriously,” he said in a statement.
![[prison 19] Caption: This is Cellhouse 1, Pod A, from ground level inside the Sterling Correctional Facility which is located outside of Sterling, Colorado Thursday afternoon. Photographer: LEW SHERMAN Title: FREELANCE Credit: SPECIAL TO THE POST City: Sterling State: CO Country: USA Date: 19990617 ObjectName: prison 19 Keyword: PUBDATE____1999_06_22](/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/20151207__denverpostp1.jpg?w=538 "20151207__denverpost~p1.jpg")
