At least one of the 30 Veterans Affairs facilities in Pennsylvania is under investigation for delays that caused veterans to not get the healthcare they need, U.S. Senator Pat Toomey said recently.
The bill that Senator Toomey is trying to pass, called the “VA Accountability” bill, would allow victims of the delayed healthcare to sue VA employees if they knowingly withhold information about the patient’s health status.
With many veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, the VA has been under a lot of pressure to meet the increasing demand. This has caused delays at the VA in Pennsylvania and across the nation. Without access to healthcare in a timely manner, multiple people have passed away.
The scandal first arose in Phoenix, Arizona, where several administrators were put on leave after allegations alleged they tried to cover up long wait periods with falsified records. After the Phoenix VA facility was exposed, several other VA facilities from across the country came under investigation for similar falsified records.
If Toomey’s bill passes, veterans will have a better opportunity to sue the people who prevented them from getting the treatment they needed. Veterans will be able to sue for medical malpractice in Pennsylvania and across the country. Toomey’s bill also makes it so that federal tax money will not be used to defend the employees who are proven to have covered up records of delays.
As a Pennsylvania medical malpractice lawyer, my heart goes out to the families of the veterans that did not receive the healthcare they were promised. I hope there is a fast and full resolution to this so that veterans will be given expedited access to the medical care veterans they need to heal their wounds.
