Tom Rooney Presses Eric Holder to Investigate VA Facility Deaths

With reports that there have been preventable deaths at VA facilities across the nation, including 40 veterans dying as they waited to get into a VA facility in Phoenix, U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Fla., asked U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to work with state attorneys general as to whether criminal charges are needed.

Make no mistake for these veterans, treatment delayed is treatment denied, and the consequences have proved fatal, Rooney, who served in the Army JAG Corps and taught at West Point, wrote Holder. Any incident of a veteran dying after being denied care by the VA is unacceptable. The fact that this policy of delay, deny, and obfuscate appears to be widespread and systemic is truly shameful, and those responsible must be held accountable including through possible criminal prosecutions.

Because these cases involve individuals working in their capacity as federal employees, and these incidents have occurred at federal facilities throughout the nation, I urge you to work with the state attorneys general in Arizona and across the country to investigate these preventable deaths thoroughly, determine appropriate criminal charges, and prosecute the offenders accordingly, Rooney added.

The Florida congressman insisted the Phoenix incident was only the tip of the iceberg, insisting he had heard from other veterans around the country and in his district on similar problems.

Recent reports have revealed that at least 40 American veterans died while waiting for appointments at the Phoenix VA hospital after being placed on a secret waiting list. To hide the fact that they were forcing 1,400-1,600 sick veterans to wait months to see a doctor, Phoenix VA managers kept two lists: an official list sent to Washington that alleged progress in providing timely appointments, and a secret one that revealed actual wait times of more than a year, Rooney wrote Holder. Unfortunately, it appears that this was not an isolated case. The House Veterans Affairs Committee, under the leadership of Chairman Jeff Miller, R-Fla., has launched an investigation and already uncovered dozens of recent, preventable deaths at VA medical centers across the country.

I have heard from veterans in my own district who have been forced to wait months for treatment that all too often arrives too late, Rooney added. One veteran in my district waited months for an appointment, and by the time he finally saw a doctor, his cancer had progressed to Stage 4. Another was diagnosed with esophageal cancer, but his treatment was delayed for five months before he contacted my office and we intervened on his behalf.