WASHINGTON (AP) — Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki Thursday brushed aside calls for his resignation and got an unexpected political lifeline from House Speaker John Boehner following reports that 40 patients died because of delayed treatment at an agency hospital. The American Legion and some in Congress have called for Shinseki's ouster following allegations of patient deaths at the Phoenix VA hospital due to delays in care and that the hospital kept a secret list of patients waiting for appointments to hide the delays. Hours later, the House Veterans Affairs Committee voted unanimously to subpoena all emails and other records in which Shinseki and other VA officials may have discussed destruction of what the committee called "an alternate or interim waitlist" for veterans seeking care at Phoenix. A top VA official had told Congressional staff last month that the "secret list" being referred to in media reports may have been an "interim list" created by the hospital. [...] the committee had asked the VA on May 1 to answer why it was created, when it was destroyed, who authorized destruction and under what authority. Shinseki answered in a letter Wednesday that VA employees used "transitory or interim notes ... for reference purposes" as they were moving information to the new electronic waiting list system.
Reported by SeattlePI.com 15 minutes ago.
↧
