(U.S. Senate) – Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Ranking Member Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), U.S. Senators Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and John Boozman (R-Ark.) are urging Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Denis McDonough to address oversight failures at medical facilities across the country.

“We write to discuss oversight failures at Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical facilities,” the Senators wrote in a letter to McDonough. “In particular, we are concerned with the failures at the Louis A. Johnson Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Clarksburg, West Virginia (Clarksburg), and the Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks in Fayetteville, Arkansas (Fayetteville) that resulted in significant harm and death of veterans in VA’s care. In both instances, facility leadership created cultural conditions that fostered mismanagement and a lack of accountability resulting in tragic outcomes. The Department must work to prevent future similar incidents from occurring, and we request more information about how VA intends to accomplish this objective.”

Earlier this year, VA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued damning reports detailing failures at the Louis A. Johnson Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Clarksburg, West Virginia, and the Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks in Fayetteville, Arkansas that resulted in death of veterans in these facilities. In Clarksburg, the OIG found that serious, pervasive, and deep-rooted clinical and administrative failures contributed to a nursing assistant’s criminal actions between 2017 and 2018 that resulted in seven counts of murder and one count of assault. In Fayetteville, the OIG found the facility’s Path and Lab Service Chief misdiagnosed more than 3,000 patients over the course of many years, including 589 major diagnostic discrepancies.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) – ranking member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee – today requested answers from Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Denis McDonough regarding the VA’s plans and preparation to support veterans during and following the withdrawal from Afghanistan.

“Our military servicemembers fought honorably to accomplish every mission their country asked of them, and as veterans, many of them continue to fight for the safety and well-being of our Afghan allies,” wrote Sen. Moran. “How the United States concludes our involvement in Afghanistan will have lasting impacts on both our Afghan allies and on the brave men and women whose honor will forever be entwined with the fate of the country in which they fought. The VA has an important role to play in how our country ends this war and deals with its aftermath. I will work to make certain we do all we can to see that this war is ended responsibly and its aftermath is dealt with compassionately.”

(U.S. Senate) – Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Ranking Member Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), U.S. Senators Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and John Boozman (R-Ark.) are urging Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Denis McDonough to address oversight failures at medical facilities across the country.

“We write to discuss oversight failures at Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical facilities,” the Senators wrote in a letter to McDonough. “In particular, we are concerned with the failures at the Louis A. Johnson Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Clarksburg, West Virginia (Clarksburg), and the Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks in Fayetteville, Arkansas (Fayetteville) that resulted in significant harm and death of veterans in VA’s care. In both instances, facility leadership created cultural conditions that fostered mismanagement and a lack of accountability resulting in tragic outcomes. The Department must work to prevent future similar incidents from occurring, and we request more information about how VA intends to accomplish this objective.”

Earlier this year, VA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued damning reports detailing failures at the Louis A. Johnson Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Clarksburg, West Virginia, and the Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks in Fayetteville, Arkansas that resulted in death of veterans in these facilities. In Clarksburg, the OIG found that serious, pervasive, and deep-rooted clinical and administrative failures contributed to a nursing assistant’s criminal actions between 2017 and 2018 that resulted in seven counts of murder and one count of assault. In Fayetteville, the OIG found the facility’s Path and Lab Service Chief misdiagnosed more than 3,000 patients over the course of many years, including 589 major diagnostic discrepancies.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) – ranking member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee – today requested answers from Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Denis McDonough regarding the VA’s plans and preparation to support veterans during and following the withdrawal from Afghanistan.

“Our military servicemembers fought honorably to accomplish every mission their country asked of them, and as veterans, many of them continue to fight for the safety and well-being of our Afghan allies,” wrote Sen. Moran. “How the United States concludes our involvement in Afghanistan will have lasting impacts on both our Afghan allies and on the brave men and women whose honor will forever be entwined with the fate of the country in which they fought. The VA has an important role to play in how our country ends this war and deals with its aftermath. I will work to make certain we do all we can to see that this war is ended responsibly and its aftermath is dealt with compassionately.”