A new report from Office of Inspector General has uncovered the shocking extent of the suffering veterans have been facing at the Phoenix Department of Veterans Affairs medical facility.
Over 10 years ago, a national scandal broke at the Phoenix VA when dozens of veterans died waiting for care as the Department of Veterans Affairs lied about the length of wait times. This new report shows that the delayed and denied care that led to tragedy in 2014 still plagues the VA health care system.
After four years of the Biden administration, veterans are still suffering, and it needs to stop.
“The OIG report is pretty clear, there’s real bureaucratic senior leadership issues here where they … turn a blind eye to poor performance … preventing or treating cancer, catching cancer early from treatments.”
— John Byrnes, Strategic Director, Concerned Veterans for America
Bureaucracy over veterans
The IG found that despite nearly 50 patient safety complaints, VA leadership failed to act against a dermatologist who had been delaying critical procedures for years. The doctor received back-to-back “unsatisfactory” performance reviews for delaying biopsies, neglecting to communicate test results and neglecting to enter specialty consults.
Failures like these led the report to conclude that the Phoenix VA had “allowed cancers the opportunity to grow.”
Unfortunately, this isn’t limited to Phoenix. Veterans across the country are caught in a broken system that protects the VA and its employees instead of prioritizing their care.
- At the Martinsburg VA Medical Center, over 5,000 community care consults were left unscheduled, with some veterans waiting over 100 days for initial contact.
- At the VA Western New York Healthcare System, staff delays left urgent radiation therapy and neurosurgery consults unscheduled for months, worsening conditions for multiple veterans with cancer and neurological issues.
- At the Oklahoma City VA Medical Center, 29 behavioral health consults were wrongly discontinued, delaying care for 7 veterans due to scheduling mismanagement.
The VA was given some disciplinary tools to address these problems through the 2017 VA Accountability & Whistleblower Protection Act. Unfortunately, court and administrative decisions have since eroded their effectiveness, leaving the VA struggling to hold negligent employees accountable. To make matters worse, in March 2023, the VA stopped enforcing the 2017 accountability law altogether.
The way forward
The Restore VA Accountability Act of 2025, introduced by U.S. Rep. Mike Bost and U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, provides the accountability veterans need.
The bill would:
- Close legal loopholes that have allowed VA staff to avoid responsibility.
- Ensure accountability by allowing the VA secretary to remove, demote, or suspend employees more quickly.
- Protect whistleblowers while ensuring problematic employees can’t hide behind bureaucracy.
- Improve care by prioritizing veterans over job security for providers that aren’t doing their jobs.
“Passing The Restore VA Accountability Act of 2025 is a crucial step to ensure VA and its employees are held accountable to the law.”
— John Byrnes, Strategic Director, Concerned Veterans for America
President Trump showed a strong commitment to reforming the VA during his last term. Signing groundbreaking legislation that heavily expanded health care options for veterans.
Unfortunately, President Biden’s VA Secretary, Denis McDonough worked overtime to undermine this progress, and prevent veterans from accessing the care they’ve earned.
With the recent confirmation of Doug Collins, real accountability is now possible. Collins has been outspoken about fixing the broken VA health care system and ensuring veterans’ access to the care they deserve.
This doesn’t need to be a partisan issue
There is no reason that both sides of the aisle can’t come together on this one. During the scandal at the Phoenix VA in 2014 , President Obama said: “If you engage in an unethical practice, if you cover up a serious problem, you should be fired. Period. It shouldn’t be that difficult.”
You have to admit, he makes a good point. It shouldn’t be that difficult.
No matter your political persuasion, everyone should be able to agree that any service provider that denies veterans the care they need must face accountability.
Veterans deserve better
Lawmakers have an important opportunity to reassert the will of Congress over a Department of Veterans Affairs that has been far too unaccountable for years. The Restore VA Accountability Act would give the VA Secretary the tools needed to hold poorly performing VA employees to account, respecting due process while cutting down on frivolous delays that undermine veterans’ care.
Join the fight for accountability. Visit Concerned Veterans for America to learn how you can help demand better care for our nation’s heroes.