Officials managing the Department of Veteran's Affairs Caribbean Healthcare System this month began threatening employees who leak information to outsiders with a $20,000 fine while also pressuring the Office of the Inspector General to identify workers who previously leaked documents showing evidence of widespread wrongdoing in the facility.

Announcements of the threatened fine say nothing about the right of federal workers who become aware of workplace wrongdoing to report it to superiors, to the inspector general of their department or agency, or to Congress.

"As discussed in this morning's service chiefs meeting with the director, this is the statement that should be included on all pertinent documents," an April 22 email to the facility's managers said.

"'These documents or records, or information contained herein, which resulted from [program name], are confidential and privileged under the provisions of 38 USC 5705 and its implementing regulations. This material cannot be disclosed to anyone without authorization so provided for by that law...Note: This statute provides for fines up to $20,000 for unauthorized disclosures.'"

The Washington Examiner had reported days before that a patient in the facility had died after a consulting doctor performed an unnecessary procedure without authorization from the primary physician. The consulting doctor also allowed his wife, a medical trainee who he was supervising, to participate in the procedure to get experience in it.

Previously, the Examiner reported that the hospital's director, DeWayne Hamlin, had been arrested in Florida with painkillers and tried to have a low-level employee fired after that employee notified supervisors in Washington of the arrest. When an investigator said her review found that the whistleblower did nothing wrong, Hamlin ordered that the investigator be fired.

Veterans Affairs Secretary Bob McDonald has said he encourages employees to become whistleblowers. But the department's other top executives oppose a bill from a House committee designed to protect whistleblowers from retaliation.

"Employees who step forward to raise concerns have a direct bearing on the Veteran outcomes we deliver. As VA transforms and improves the care and services we provide each day, we know there is no better source of ideas for improvement than from our employees," said Linda West, a spokesman for the veterans department.

"While VA is committed to transparency and protection of whistleblowers, all employees have a duty to abide 38 USC 5705 and any other federal regulations, with regard to disclosure of protected and/or confidential information," she said.

On April 21, Nahir Llaurador, an information manager at the Puerto Rico hospital, created a "ticket" asking another hospital office to find out how "information was released to a press reporter."

That department responded: "Mitigation/Corrective Action: Although the article contained information which resembled investigative QM documents, we are unable to narrow down source for release of information to the media. Due to the sensitive nature of information used in the Washington Examiner article, further investigation by OIG recommended to prevent future disclosures and restore confidentiality to QM activities." OIG stands for the Office of the Inspector General. QM stands for Quality Management.

The documents behind the Examiner's story contained no private medical information or patient names, but rather detailed how the consulting doctor was found by his colleagues to have made serious errors, yet faced little discipline.

The inspector general's office said it had not yet received a request from the Puerto Rico hospital. A spokesman for the hospital did not respond to an Examiner request for comment.

The Veterans Affairs Office of the Inspector General is the department's internal watchdog, and it relies on tips from employees to investigate wrongdoing.

But it has long been operating with the top investigator job vacant, and it has frequently been criticized in recent years for bungling probes and for even helping managers retaliate against whistleblowing employees. In one such case reported earlier this year by the Examiner, armed inspector general office agents entered an accused employee's home and sought to file criminal charges against another.