On Thursday, American Legion National Commander Daniel M. Dellinger called the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical center in Phoenix that has been keeping a secret list of veterans with long-delayed appointments, that resulted in dozens of deaths, “abhorrent”.
The death of at least 40 veterans at the VA medical center in Phoenix was reported by CNN on Wednesday.
According to CNN who interviewed retired VA doctor, Sam Foote, who worked at the facility for 24 years that the secret list cover-up was designed to hide the fact of the long delays of 1,400 veterans just to see a doctor. Dellinger said if the allegations are true, the secret list in Phoenix “is one of the most abhorrent acts ever committed in VA history.”
Dr. Foote told CNN that the Phoenix hospital also maintains a “sham” list that it shares with the VA Central Office, which falsely indicates Phoenix has been providing timely appointments for its patients.
“If this is all true,” Dellinger said, it is a new low in a string of breakdowns at VA medical centers – Columbia, S.C.; Augusta, Ga.; Jackson, Miss.; the list goes on – that have caused the needless deaths of individuals who served this country with honor.”
