Amid Secret Waitlist Fury, Shinseki Resigns as Veterans Affairs Chief

On Friday, May 30th, Eric Shinseki officially resigned as Veterans Affairs Chief.

Shinseki had a face-to-face meeting with President Barack Obama after weeks of bipartisan fury over reported “secret waitlists” and deaths of veterans who failed to receive treatment while Shinseki was chief of Veterans Affairs.

The public, veterans rights groups, and legislators all believed that Shinseki allowed widespread misconduct and mismanagement of Veterans Affairs and Administration hospitals across the country – most notoriously, the Phoenix VA Hospital, where a secret waitlist of thousands of veterans gave the hospital the appearance of clearing up a backlog of patients, while veterans instead suffered from lack of treatment.  Veterans are entitled to veterans’ benefits including medical treatment and care.

President Obama said in a statement after their meeting that he accepted Shinseki’s resignation as Veterans Affairs Chief “with regret.”

“He has worked hard to investigate and identify the problem,” the president said, adding that Mr. Shinseki told him that “the V.A. needs new leadership to address it. He does not want to be a distraction.”

“We don’t have time for distractions,” Obama added. “We need to fix the problem.”

“We now know that VA has a systemic, totally unacceptable lack of integrity within some of our veteran health facilities,” Shinseki said. “The breach of trust involved the tracking of patient wait times for appointments.”

“We will use all authority at our disposal to enforce accountability among senior leaders who are found to have instigated, tolerated dishonorable or irresponsible scheduling practices at VA health care facilities,” Shinseki continued.

“I can’t explain the lack of integrity among some of the leaders of our health care facilities. This is something I rarely encountered during 38 years in uniform. And so I will not defend it because it is indefensible,” Shinseki said.

On Wednesday, May 28th, investigators for the Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General said in their report that they found initial evidence that validated the accusations of “inappropriate scheduling practices” at the Phoenix Veterans Administration Hospital, which led to “significant delays in access to care.

“We identified an additional 1,700 veterans who were waiting for a primary care appointment but were not on the [electronic wait list,]” the report from the VA inspector general said. “Most importantly, these veterans were and continue to be at risk of being forgotten or lost in Phoenix [healthcare system’s] convoluted scheduling process. As a result, these veterans may never obtain a requested or required clinical appointment.”

“Our reviews have identified multiple types of scheduling practices that are not in compliance with VHA policy,” the report said. “Since the multiple lists we found were something other than the official EWL, these additional lists may be the basis for allegations of creating ‘secret’ wait lists.”

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The Veterans Benefit Lawyers at the Strom Law Firm, L.L.C. work with veterans to file claims for a variety of disabilities and can assist you in filing your claims with the Veterans Administration. Veterans Disability can be complex.  Not understanding the basics and not having counsel may leave you in a bind.  We understand that you and your family need your benefits.  We will put our years of experience to work for you to ensure that you have the representation necessary to actively pursue your claim. Call the Veterans Benefits Attorneys at the Strom Law Firm today to discuss your case. We will be glad to discuss any questions you may have during our free, confidential discussion. Call the attorneys at the Strom Law Firm at (803) 252-4800.