For VA Whistleblowers, A Culture Of Fear And Retaliation

Coyote

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Apr 17, 2009
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Unless I missed a thread on this...this seems to be buried. Some very good investigative journalism has revealed some pretty awful corruption in the VA. Disclaimer...this is not partisan, has been going on for years.


Investigation Into The VA Reveals A Culture Of Retaliation Against Whistleblowers


For VA Whistleblowers, A Culture Of Fear And Retaliation

Alan Hyde is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps and the Central Alabama Veterans Health Care System. He served in Operation Desert Storm, where he suffered an in-service leg injury. But it's his time with the Central Alabama VA, he says, that has left him more rattled, frustrated and angry.

"It's a toxic environment there," Hyde says. "And I feel sorry for the veterans."

Hyde is both a patient and a former employee at the Central Alabama Veterans Health Care System in Montgomery. He supervised employees who took vets for treatment outside the VA. Hyde was fired after six months for unspecified misconduct. He is among dozens of people who say they faced vicious retaliation when they tried to improve conditions there or hold managers accountable.

More than 30 current and former VA employees spoke to NPR. They include doctors, nurses and administrators — many of them veterans themselves. All describe an entrenched management culture that uses fear and intimidation to prevent potential whistleblowers from talking.
 
Fortunately not all VA regions are created the same. I've been treated by the VA DeBakey hospital system for 18 years and would rate my overall care as excellent. The worse thing I saw the couple of days I was hospitalized, was the food.

Well I do have another gripe, I had a ER visit at a civilian hospital, it took VA forever to pay the bills. Fortunately I was still Tricare eligible at that time and had the bills ran though Tricare. to prevent damage to my credit. They need to take the payments away form the central payment facility in Mississippi and authorize the VA regional offices to pay the bills.


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If you listen to Liberal Veterns on this site the VA is like the greatest place on earth for healthcare. I also used Central for my service connected injuries and after years of getting nowhere I've given up.
 

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