Whistleblower claims she was suspended by Veterans Affairs for not cooking the books
The whistleblower who came forward about the secret waiting list in the Phoenix Veterans Affairs hospital is now claiming she was ordered to transfer when she refused to cook the books. She is also claiming that when she protested the transfer she was suspended without pay.
Here is what she is claiming:
The whistleblower behind the federal investigation of the Fort Collins Veterans Affairs clinic said she was put on two-week unpaid leave for not “cooking the books” when scheduling appointments.
Lisa Lee, a former Navy reservist now on active duty in Hawaii, told the Coloradoan she and another scheduler were transferred from Fort Collins in March 2013 for refusing to hide wait times between desired appointment dates and actual dates. She said the suspension came after she filed an internal grievance about the transfer and scheduling practices.
“Why are they throwing me under the bus when I’m trying to say what the problem is?” Lee asked. It’s one of those questions that pretty much answers itself. She’s convinced she was punished to set an example for other schedulers.
But the story does not end there; she is also claiming that when she started blowing the whistle on the ever-growing scandal the Veterans Affairs office offered to pay her for those two weeks and remove the suspension from her record on the condition she stop talking to the oversight committees:
When she started talking with federal oversight agencies, Lee said administrators at the VA offered her a deal that removed the suspension from her record and paid her for those two weeks. The deal was contingent on ending any whistleblowing behavior at the clinic, she said. It was a matter of principle to continue the fight, she said. The idea of returning to the VA didn’t appeal either.
But I suppose this is nothing but a political witch hunt and there is not even a smidgen of corruption here.
America's Watchtower 
The worst part is that it’s a recurring scandal.
There seems to be a cycle that every so many years, significant breakdowns are found in the VA healthcare system. This is followed by various memos, committees, firings, hirings and other shuffles to fix the problem.
Then a few years later, something else comes up short in the VA system.
This looks more like a deeply imbedded institutional problem than a local breakdown. On the surface, the problem looks simple. The military has complete records on all veterans. That record should go to the VA so that the VA can appropriately care for the vet, if needed. The numbers involved should be predictable given the health information in the military records. When we know what needs to be done, there’s not much excuse for coming up short.
The lady is the latest casualty in what has been a long war.
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So true, this is nothing new for the VA, but now it is coming to a head and hopefully this will mean that something is finally done about it.
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This will be a gift that may just bring us success this fall. Sad, but true. Even the left can’t defend this administration. The Vets should be given vouchers for care in private facilities. It just might save our healthcare system which is now on the verge of collapse.
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You are right, even the left cannot defend this even though some will try.
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