VA failure to protect whistleblowers draws strong rebuke from Special Counsel

The U.S. Office of Special Counsel on Thursday delivered a scathing letter to President Barack Obama, ripping the Department of Veterans Affairs for its failure to punish administrators who retaliate against Phoenix whistleblowers.

Special Counsel Carolyn Lerner said officials at the Carl T. Hayden VA Medical Center in Phoenix investigated, transferred and harassed Dr. Katherine Mitchell after she reported that emergency patients were being endangered and hurt because nurses were not adequately trained in triage procedures.

“I am concerned by the VA’s decision to take no disciplinary action against responsible officials,” Lerner wrote. “The lack of accountability for the Hayden VAMC leaders sends the wrong message to veterans served by this facility, including those who received substandard emergency care.”

Lerner said the VA Office of Medical Inspector eventually verified allegations by Mitchell, after she was removed from her post as acting director of the Emergency Department. Investigators found that none of the ER nurses had completed a nationally recognized triage training regimen, and “only 11 of the 31 nurses had completed any triage training at all.”

Mitchell, among several Arizona VA employees who launched a national furor over medical care for veterans, was harassed and abused for two years. She eventually received a settlement and new position at the department, but no one was disciplined for her mistreatment.

The VA issued a written statement saying the department "is committed to creating a work environment in which all employees – from front-line staff through lower-level supervisors to senior managers and top VA officials – feel safe sharing what they know, whether good news or bad, for the benefit of veterans, without fear of reprisal."

The statement says the VA is cooperating with the Special Counsel with an unprecedented, fast-track system to handle complaints while also developing a new training program to ensure department supervisors understand their roles and responsibilities with respect to whistleblowers.

Mitchell expressed satisfaction Thursday that Lerner verified her original complaint, but also frustration because the letter suggests Phoenix nurses have since received “positive and long overdue” training.

Mitchell said training remains inadequate and the Emergency Department “is still a danger to patient health and safety. … I don’t know what more it takes to motivate the VA to actually go into the ER and fix it, because the issues are still ongoing.”

Lerner’s letter to the White House says VA leaders have established a record of severely punishing whistleblowers based upon petty or trumped up charges while failing to investigate bosses or hold them responsible for reprisal. She said the department has made “substantial progress” in disciplinary practices during the past two years of controversy, but continues to undermine accountability and discourage truth tellers.

Lerner provided specific examples from around the nation. She said a VA manager in Washington state received only a reprimand for falsifying government records, and officials at a West Virginia hospital were not punished for trying to cut costs by prescribing outdated and ineffective medications to veterans.

At the same time, Lerner noted, “The VA has attempted to fire or suspend whistleblowers for minor indiscretions and, often, for activity directly related to the employees’ whistleblowing.”

Among the examples:

A food services worker in Philadelphia who reported unsanitary conditions was fired for allegedly eating four expired sandwiches rather than throwing them away.

An employee in Wisconsin who exposed violations of medical privacy was fired because her complaint e-mail allegedly contained personal information.

Lerner’s missive comes one day after the chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs sent an equally critical letter to VA Secretary Bob McDonald. In that correspondence, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., noted an “alarming rise” in the number of reprisal complaints filed by VA whistleblowers, and demanded answers to 10 questions.

In 2014, OSC received more retaliation complaints from VA whistleblowers than from the Defense Department, which has twice as many civilian employees. This year, more than 37 percent of the reprisal complaints lodged by all federal employees are coming from VA personnel.

Johnson noted that three physicians at the VA hospital in Tomah, Wis., were fired after they exposed rampant overmedication of patients with painkillers. One committed suicide on the day he was fired, and two others won legal settlements.

Johnson’s letter also described Mitchell's case in Arizona, and the saga of Brandon Coleman, a Phoenix VA addiction specialist who was suspended and accused of misconduct after reporting that potentially suicidal patients were not being cared for properly.

“The VA’s discipline of Mr. Coleman has placed veterans’ health and safety at risk,” Johnson wrote, demanding to know if his supervisors have been punished. “The treatment of VA whistleblowers throughout the country has illustrated severe, deep-rooted issues within the VA that encourage retaliation and punish the very individuals who expose problems that harm our nation’s veterans.”