Thread by @dandcaldwell

THREAD: This week is the 5 yr anniversary of the Phoenix VA scandal. Accordingly, I thought it would be appropriate to walk through what happened in 2014. There has been a disgusting campaign to mislead and downplay what actually happened that needs to be rebutted. /1

In April 2014, Dennis Wagner w/@azcentral published a story based on info from a VA doc name Sam Foote that revealed that the Phoenix VA was using secret wait lists to hide long wait times and up to 40 veterans may have died on these secret wait lists /2
azcentral.com/story/news/pol…

In the following weeks reporters at @CNN and other outlets confirmed Dennis's reporting. Other investigations by the media, @HouseVetAffairs, and the @DeptVetAffairs revealed that the Phoenix VA wasn't the only hospital using secret wait lists and that it was nationwide problem/3

This led to the resignation of VA Secretary Eric Shinseki and most of the senior leadership at the VA. The top leaders at the Phoenix VA were removed from their positions but it took over 700 days to fire 3 of them which was a scandal in of itself: /4
azcentral.com/story/news/loc…

.@USAtoday and @donovanslack have a good summary of wait time investigations across the country below. The @VetAffairsOIG also confirmed that secret wait lists were used at the Phoenix VA and that veterans died while on those lists. /5
usatoday.com/story/news/pol…

In total, 293 veterans died on wait lists of various types (including secret wait lists) while waiting for care at the Phoenix VA in 2013/14. 3,500 veterans in Phoenix alone were placed on secret wait lists and some faced "clinically significant" delays in care. /6

However, the VA OIG controversially inserted a line into its final report on the Phoenix VA that they couldn't conclusively state that the delayed care that resulted from use of secret wait lists at the Phoenix VA led to the deaths of veterans. /7

Many criticized the VA OIG for using an impossibly high standard to judge what factors contributed to patient deaths. Also, the VA OIG caved to political pressure from the Obama admin to insert that line into their report (another huge scandal): /8
militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-…

The OIG eventually admitted that the wait lists contributed to patient deaths (see below). However this hasnt stopped some rabid defenders of the VA to use that VA OIG report to downplay what happened at the Phoenix VA and minimize the deaths of veterans/9 cnn.com/2014/09/17/pol…

This includes a particularly disgusting @washingtonmonthly story from 2016 which in effect claimed the Phoenix VA scandal was blown out of proportion as part of a plot to privatize the VA. The @dcexaminer did a good job rebutting that story below. /10

washingtonexaminer.com/lawmaker-blast…

Unfortunately, others continue to push the narrative that Phoenix in 2014 wasn't a big deal and that the VA was/is doing great and because of that we don't need to give veterans more choice. This group also usually argues that we need to keep vets in the system to sustain it. /11

Certainly, there are many veterans getting great care through the VA and many VA hospitals are indisputably outperforming their private sector counterparts. But many aren't and there are 100Ks of veterans wait long periods of time for poor quality care. /12

Keeping vets who aren't getting good care trapped in the VA for the sake of vets who are is immoral. Vets choose to serve their country and should be able to choose their doctor - esp. if they aren't getting good care. When vets don't have that option, you get the Phoenix VA /13

Finally, those who are trying to push the narrative that what happened at the Phoenix VA was overblown should be ashamed. I would encourage them to sit down with the families who lost their loved ones at the Phoenix VA and ask them if they think it was "overblown." /14