WASHINGTON -- The top official for veterans health care resigned Friday amid criticism over delays in care and falsified records at veterans' hospitals.
Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki said he has accepted the resignation of Robert Petzel, the department's undersecretary for health care. Shinseki had asked for the resignation, a department official later said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak for attribution.
Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., chairman of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, mocked the announcement, calling it "the pinnacle of disingenuous political doublespeak" because Petzel had been scheduled to retire this year, anyway.
The American Legion, which has called for Shinseki to resign, agreed. "This move by VA is not a corrective action but a continuation of business as usual," the group said.
The announcement came a day after Shinseki and Petzel were questioned at a four-hour hearing of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, where lawmakers and veterans groups expressed exasperation about long-standing problems at the department.
Meanwhile, House Republicans scheduled a vote for Wednesday on legislation that would give Shinseki more authority to fire or demote senior executives and administrators at the agency and its 152 medical centers.
When senior leaders in the agency "fail the men and women who have put their lives on the line for our country, they deserve a pink slip -- not a bonus," House Speaker John Boehner said Friday. Although some Republicans in Congress have joined the call for Shinseki to resign, Boehner is not among them.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has backed Shinseki but appeared to waver after Shinseki went before the Senate committee this week.
"If he doesn't give a better answer, then I'm not sure how he wouldn't have to do anything but resign," McCain said Thursday night.
McCain said he believes problems in the agency go beyond incompetence.
"If these allegations are true, people should be going to jail, not just resigning their positions," he said, adding that a criminal investigation by the Justice Department appears inevitable.
"Everything I've seen is going to lead us to the attorney general," McCain said.
Reports of long waits for appointments and processing of benefit applications have plagued the agency for years. The agency has shortened backlogs, but allegations of unnecessary deaths that might be linked to delays at the Phoenix veterans hospital have triggered an election-year firestorm. A whistle-blower there said as many as 40 people might have died while awaiting appointments and that staff members kept a secret appointment list to mask the delays.
Shinseki asked the Veterans Affairs inspector general to investigate. An initial review of 17 people who died while awaiting appointments at the Phoenix hospital found that none of their deaths appeared to have been caused by delays in treatment, acting inspector general Richard Griffin told senators Thursday.
But Griffin also said new complaints about wait lists and falsified patient appointments had surfaced at other hospitals and clinics after the Phoenix allegations went public. At least 10 new allegations about manipulated waiting times and other problems have surfaced in the past three weeks, he said.
Petzel was to retire this year, and Shinseki last fall convened a commission to recommend candidates for presidential appointment to replace him. The agency is required by law to convene a commission to seek and review candidates for the position.
Petzel had agreed to remain until the Senate confirmed a replacement. President Barack Obama this month announced his intent to nominate Dr. Jeffrey Murawsky to be undersecretary for health, but he has not been confirmed.
"As we know from the veteran community, most veterans are satisfied with the quality of their VA health care, but we must do more to improve timely access to that care," Shinseki said in a statement Friday announcing Petzel's early departure.
In his position, Petzel oversaw what officials say is the largest health-care delivery system in the U.S. The agency operates 1,700 hospitals, clinics and other facilities across the country. The facilities employ about 300,000 people and serve about 6.5 million veterans and other beneficiaries each year.
Miller wrote the legislation that is to be taken up next week. He said Friday that the resignation shows the agency is "apparently unwilling to take substantive actions to hold any of its leaders accountable."
Shinseki on Thursday told senators he was angry about allegations of severe problems and that he was looking for quick results from a nationwide audit. He has rejected calls for him to resign.
A Section on 05/17/2014