The move comes a day after he testified before a Senate panel about the allegations. Top VA health official resigns

The top health official at the Department of Veterans Affairs resigned on Friday amid an unfolding scandal over treatment delays at veterans hospitals — a move that did little to satisfy the VA’s Republican critics because the health official was already slated to retire.

VA Undersecretary for Health Robert Petzel’s resignation came a day after he testified alongside VA Secretary Eric Shinseki before a Senate panel about allegations that veterans hospitals in Arizona and other states concealed patient waiting times to make it appear that they were complying with VA standards for access to care.


Earlier this month, President Barack Obama nominated Jeffrey Murawsky to succeed Petzel. Even before the scandal erupted, Petzel had been expected to remain in his post only until Murawsky’s Senate confirmation.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said in a statement Shinseki had “accepted” Petzel’s resignation and that the president “supports Secretary Shinseki’s decision.”

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The chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee on Friday slammed Petzel’s resignation as the “pinnacle of disingenuous political doublespeak.”

“Petzel was already scheduled to retire in 2014,” Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) said in a statement. “Characterizing this as a ‘resignation’ just doesn’t pass the smell test.”

Meanwhile, Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) said the VA should act to change its bureaucratic culture rather than focusing on “damage control.”

Moran and several other GOP senators have called for Shinseki to resign over the scandal.

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In a statement Friday, Shinseki said he remains “committed to strengthening veterans’ trust and confidence in their VA health care system.”

Petzel had been in his post since 2010.

Murawsky is the network director of the Veterans Integrated Service Network and is an associate professor of medicine at the Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, according to a White House biography.