VA chief indicted; 50 counts of falsifying medical records
Bobo sends us a link to the Washington Post in regards to the indictment of Cathedral Henderson, the Departmental Chief of Purchase Care at the VA’s Augusta facility;
Henderson, 50, was…coordinating medical care for veterans that VA could not offer. He was responsible for ensuring that more than 2,700 veterans awaiting approval for care outside the system were properly referred to for doctor’s appointments.
Someone told Henderson to close out requests for care outside of the VA system, and he took that to mean that his employees should alter patient records to reflect that they had either opted out of the program or had completed services offered to them.
Each of the charges against Henderson refers to a veteran with a pending need for medical care: Two patients were waiting for imaging, one for an ultrasound, one for neurology, another for surgery and 45 more for mammograms, according to prosecutors.
[…]
His attorney,Keith B. Johnson of Augusta, told The Augusta Chronicle that his client “was following the directive of his supervisors, and that will come out in court documents.”
While I’m not positive that Henderson was told directly by his superiors to alter veterans’ records, I am sure that he thought it would be an acceptable solution and that is part of the problem at the VA – it’s a part of the bureaucratic culture in the agency. Even if he was told directly to alter veterans’ records, he knew it was wrong and should have ignored the orders, or become a whistleblower. But, you know, he had a 20 year career to worry about which is more important than a few veterans’ preventative care.
Category: Veterans' Affairs Department
These people piss me off! I’ll bet he just gets a slap on the wrist for it, and will be able to keep/retire from this job he has NO BUSINESS DOING!!
…and the beat goes on…
Sonny Bono was truly a boss.
“But under pressure from VA headquarters in 2014 to close out all requests for outside care, Cathedral simply ordered his staff to falsify the waiting patients’ medical records to show that the veterans had either completed or refused services, prosecutors allege.”
So, we see that HE told HIS staff to falsify records, according to the WaPo. His defense is that HE was told to do so by his supervisor. Yeah, I would say that’s systemic. Just make the records go away. And no one said, “Wait! These records represent Veterans needing care, testing, or some other service. If we simply close the records out, we’re actually closing Veterans out, some of whom may die because of this.”
And to think that was the same excuse the Nazis used during the Nuremberg Trials. Somebody told me to do it….
That’s funny … I was just going to mention the Nuremberg “defense” that didn’t work. Won’t work this time either. Nor should it.
I hope someone screws up his medical records…after he meets the business end of a lug wrench.
As little as it is, at least these charges represent one person being held responsible for his actions. Let us hope that this is not a lone sacrificial lamb but the first of many. Any chance that whatever sentence he receives on the 50 counts will be sequential instead of concurrent?
Yes, Mr. defense attorney, I look forward to any revelations this clown might make in open court.
OWB, I’m with you, I hope this has a domino effect.
OC
That, and the fact tad the Good German defense didn’t work at Nuremberg and it wont work here.
“was following the directive of his supervisors, and that will come out in court documents.”
That defense didn’t work out too well at Nuremberg
Oops, I didn’t see Skippy’s comment above. I guess I accidently went to the Joe Biden school of plagiarism.
I think a lot of us see the same thing here.
100 bucks says he gets his job back 🙁
He’ll probably get to drop his retirement letter so he can have his pension for 20 years of committing fraud for after he gets out.
Every time I go to the VA and see employees with tags on their id`s that says Veteran…then all the ones who do not. I ask myself why not? Why does the VA hire anyone who isn`t a veteran? Plenty of vets need jobs…or good jobs…the VA should only hire vets. If the jobs are available it would further motivate vets to go to school if they know they have a better chance than some durp immigrant getting the job.
I agree 100%.
Can’t do because it might skew the union membership.
Nice sentiment, but all Veterans are not created equal. How many of us served with someone who could barely tie their shoelaces, let alone be responsible for maintaining an equipment logbook or a weapon effectively?
If a Veteran is QUALIFIED they should definitely have hiring preference. However, there are a lot of “Veterans” out there that unfortunately should not be hired “just because”. How many of them have been revealed on this site?
Just because someone has a “Veteran” designation doesn’t mean they care more now than they did when they did the minimum or screwed the pooch on active duty.
Thanks for saying that sarge. there are plenty of civilian employees within the VA system who care and do what they can.
Is anyone surprized here?
I AM NOT, nor am I amused or impressed by the TOTAL failure of the VA to provide services to entitled Veterans, while treating 10’s of thousands (or more) who are total frauds!
But what do I know …
Another day, another VA nonsense.
As yours truly has been saying for decades now, the whole system is FUBAR. No way you will ever fix a many tentacled, bloated, corrupt organization like the VA.
Carry on.
The big question is… if he’s found guilty, will he get to serve time or will the judge “sympathize” with him?
Assclown needs to spend a very, very long time in one of them “federal pound you in the ass” prisons.
I’m guessing if there really is documentation about his supervisor telling him to do that, his former supervisor will have his retirement letter to HR tomorrow morning and he’ll be long gone.
This reminds me of a story about an iceberg and a nazi walking into a bar.
“I was ordered to use only the tip, your honor!”
I can guess that the VA has had the circle-the-wagons mentality for quite some time now and that employees identify more with one another than those they serve. After years and years of lollygagging and whistlin’ Dixie, one after another performance VA failure came to light. Records piled up and waiting lists for medical testing and treatment were backlogged. And Veterans died. Media attention on the mess prompted promises of change, improvement, and a management hell bent on addressing the publicized problem, not because it hurt patients but because it made the VA look bad. This no doubt upset the collective apple cart, and employees who cared more about their phony baloney jobs stooped to what this guy, his superiors, and his subordinates are said to have done. Well, I don’t want to hear that most VA employees are good people who are dedicated to serving Veterans. I don’t want to hear that VA puts Veterans first blah…blah…blah, and I sure don’t want to see a TV commercial with a smiling, diversified work force plugging VA’s service. All of it is smoke and mirrors and bullshit. What I want to see are VA offices full of employees on Friday afternoons and managers who actually manage employees and supervisors who are present to supervise. But I guess that is asking too much.
The mood I’ve been in over the last few days; I had better not comment or I’m sure to get a visit from the feds.