WASHINGTON — A federal investigative agency is examining 67 claims of retaliation by Veterans Affairs Department supervisors against employees who filed whistleblower complaints, including 25 complaints filed since June 1, amid a growing health care scandal involving long patient waits and falsified records at VA hospitals.
The independent Office of Special Counsel said that 30 of the complaints about retaliation have passed the initial review stage and were being investigated further for corrective action and possible discipline against VA supervisors and other executives. The complaints were filed in 28 states at 45 separate facilities, Special Counsel Carolyn Lerner told the House Veterans Affairs Committee.
Also Katherine Mitchell, a doctor at the Phoenix veterans hospital, says she was harassed and humiliated after complaining about problems at the hospital, where dozens of veterans died while on waiting lists for appointments. She said her complaints about the hospital’s emergency room being severely understaffed and not able to keep up with “the dangerous flood of patients”
were ignored, Mitchell said, and she was transferred, suspended and reprimanded.
