[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 147 (Wednesday, September 28, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6207-S6209]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CONTINUING RESOLUTION
Mr. KIRK. Mr. President, today we have made great progress in
protecting whistleblowers and veterans at Veterans Affairs hospitals
across the county by passing the fiscal year 2017 Military
Construction--Veterans Affairs Appropriations Conference Agreement,
which includes S. 2291, VA Patient Protection Act. This bill provides
protection for the protectors of our veterans, the whistleblowers, who
are shedding light on the egregious acts of some employees at VA
hospitals across the country. Unfortunately, one of those hospitals is
the Edwards Hines Jr. Veterans Affairs Medical Center in my State of
Illinois.
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Today I sent a letter to Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald
regarding the most recent injustice uncovered by whistleblowers at the
Hines VA.
Whistleblowers brought to my attention that the remains of indigent
veterans and those without next of kin are often left in the Hines VA
morgue for over a month, sometimes longer, without proper postmortem
care. The whistleblowers, who wish to remain anonymous for fear of
retaliation and losing their jobs, brought forward information
identifying Mr. Christopher Wirtjes, chief, patient administrative
services at Hines VA, as the person responsible for this blatant
disregard of a veteran's right for a timely and dignified burial. I
have asked the Secretary to fire Mr. Wirtjes for failure to perform his
duties. In addition to this latest trespass against veterans at Hines
VA, Mr. Wirtjes was the only manager identified in the VA's own
inspector general investigation as the mastermind behind directing
staff to manipulate wait times for appointments at Hines VA.
Whistleblowers provide an important service of reporting waste,
fraud, and abuse of veterans care. In fact, whistleblower disclosures
play a pivotal role in promoting accountability and better health care
for veterans at the VA. However, whistleblowers at Hines VA tell me
retaliation continues despite the whistleblower protections in place.
This is why I am pleased the continuing resolution that passed the
Senate today overwhelmingly includes my bipartisan VA Patient
Protection Act, which increases penalties for those who retaliate
against whistleblowers, creates a formal process for whistleblowers to
file claims at the VA, and establishes a central whistleblower office
to investigate all whistleblower claims.
Just as no servicemember is left behind on the battlefield, no
veteran should ever be left in a morgue or placed on a secret wait list
for health care appointments. I thank the brave whistleblowers who come
forward to protect our veterans. I also reiterate to Secretary
McDonald, do the right thing and fire Mr. Wirtjes now.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have my letters dated
September 1, 2016, and September 28, 2016, printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
U.S. Senate,
Washington, DC, September 1, 2016.
Hon. Robert A. McDonald,
Department of Veterans Affairs,
Washington, DC.
Dear Secretary McDonald: It has been brought to my
attention by a whistleblower that the Edward Hines, Jr.
Veterans Affairs Hospital has failed to treat the remains of
unclaimed and indigent veterans with dignity and ensured
burial within a reasonable amount of time. Specifically,
whistleblowers report there are currently two veterans who
have been left in the Hines morgue for over a month. The
graphic details of what happens to these remains without
timely post mortem care is sickening and shameful. Your
support to uncover the truth and protection for the employees
who came forward on behalf of veterans is imperative.
The Veterans Health Administration Handbook 1601B.04 states
that ``if a Veteran dies . . . at a VA facility under
authorized admission . . . and the Veteran's remains are
unclaimed, the facility Director will request funeral and
burial services to be procured through a contract.''
I am asking, on behalf of all veterans at Hines VA, if a
service contract with an established funeral home or two
would allow for the timely transport of unclaimed or indigent
veterans' remains to be prepared for burial and laid to rest.
Whistleblowers also suggest the service relationships between
Hines VA and some local funeral homes no longer exist because
of the health risk posed by the extreme decomposition of
remains after being stored for so long without post mortem
care.
Finally, I would like information on the federal funds made
available by the annual Military Construction and Veterans
Affairs appropriations bill for the seamless transfer of
unclaimed or indigent veterans' remains to local funeral
homes. Ignoring the law or misusing funds is a clear
disregard to the VA's standard operation procedure and
possibly illegal.
Every hero who serves in our U.S. Armed Forces deserves a
dignified final farewell from a grateful nation. To learn
these veterans remains have been sitting in the morgue for
over a month, sometimes longer, without proper post mortem
care, is unacceptable and unjustifiable.
Just as no servicemember is ever left behind on the
battlefield, no veteran should ever be left behind in morgue.
Therefore I ask for your immediate attention to correct
this disgrace, demand that the two veterans who are currently
in the morgue promptly receive a proper and respectful
burial, and take appropriate disciplinary action against the
person or persons responsible for letting this happen. I also
ask that you launch a review of VA hospitals across the
country to ensure that this mistreatment of our heroes'
remains is not happening elsewhere.
Thank you for your immediate attention to this matter. I
look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Mark Kirk,
U.S. Senator.
____
U.S. Senate,
Washington, DC, September 28, 2016.
Hon. Robert A. McDonald,
Department of Veterans Affairs,
Washington, DC.
Dear Secretary McDonald: As follow up to our phone
conversation last week, I write to reiterate that you should
use your ability as the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to
terminate Mr. Christopher Wirtjes from his post at Edward
Hines Jr. VA Hospital in Hines, Illinois.
As I wrote to you on September 1, 2016, whistleblowers came
to me last month reporting that the remains of indigent
veterans, or those without next of kin, were left in the
Hines VA morgue for inappropriate amounts of time following
their death. At times, the remains of these veterans were
left to badly decompose in the Hines morgue for upwards of 30
plus days before being properly released to a local funeral
home for a dignified burial or cremation. At the time of my
letter, the remains of two veterans had sat in the Hines VA
morgue without any post mortem care for over 45 days. This is
unacceptable.
These whistleblowers, who wish to remain anonymous for fear
of retaliation and losing their jobs, brought forward
information identifying Mr. Wirtjes, Chief, Patient
Administrative Services (PAS), as the person responsible for
this unacceptable situation. Mr. Wirtjes, according to
whistleblowers, fails to do his duty of ensuring timely and
respectful burials for our indigent veterans, and veterans
without next of kin. Emails provided to my office show
efforts by VA staff to get proper and timely approval of
paperwork failed, despite available funds and an internal
operating procedure to procure payment that is known and
should be in place. The whistleblowers also state Mr. Wirtjes
does not have a contract with an established funeral home to
transport the unclaimed remains to be prepared for burial,
per normal operating procedure.
I find this behavior unacceptable and another exhausting
example of a culture of malfeasance and corruption at Hines.
This is not the first time Mr. Wirtjes has failed to
perform his duties. The Office of Special Counsel's letter to
the President from February 25, 2016 specifically named him
as the manager who directed staff to manipulate patient
appointments, directed staff to zero out patient wait times
and directed the use of a separate Excel spreadsheet to track
appointments. This resulted in a false appearance of
acceptable wait times and masked significant delays in
veterans' access to care.
Specifically, the Office of Special Counsel Analysis titled
OSC File No. DI-14-2762 (Hines VA Hospital, Chicago,
Illinois) regarding the VA's Office of Inspector General
(OIG) investigations on manipulated wait times raised by
whistleblowers states that the VA ``OIG found only one
manager, patient administrative services (PAS) chief
Christopher Wirtjes, responsible for implementing these
improper practices.''
As a result, Mr. Wirtjes was merely given a 14-day
administrative leave for his role in the scheduling
manipulations. To add insult to injury, whistleblowers have
informed my office that Mr. Wirtjes responded to this
punishment by taking an additional 2-week vacation and upon
his return continuously bragged about his VA commissioned
``vacation.''
The OSC analysis also stated that the OIG investigation
confirmed that a senior manager instructed schedulers to
manipulate scheduling data to hide the actual wait times
experienced by veterans, however it provided no information
on how the manipulations impacted veterans, and failed to
provide corrective action. Is Mr. Wirtjes continuing to
direct schedulers to manipulate wait times for care at Hines
VA?
While manipulating the wait time for several departments
according to the VA's own OIG investigation is unspeakable,
continuing to leave in place a corrupt and inept chain of
command to continue to harm our veterans, like leaving our
unclaimed and indigent veterans in the morgue, is
unforgivable. I find it irresponsible that the VA has left
the one manager finger pointed as the mastermind of the
manipulated scheduling practices in a position to continue
overseeing scheduling, patient administration, health
information management and decedent affairs.
Mr. Wirtjes must be held accountable now. Otherwise the
corrupt culture of the VA will be justified and encouraged.
You have the ability to fire VA employees for misconduct.
Congress gave you that power in Public Law 113-146. If
manipulating scheduling wait times putting veterans' health
at risk and failing to allow the burial of unclaimed
veterans' remains is not misconduct, then I ask you what is.
If you cannot make this happen within the next 30
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days then I would like an explanation to Congress and 700,000
Illinois veterans.
America was built on the sacrifices of our service members.
And as a grateful nation, we are indebted to our veterans who
unselfishly served to fight for the freedoms we enjoy. No
veteran who has served should be left for weeks without a
proper and dignified burial.
Sincerely,
Mark Kirk,
U.S. Senate.
____________________