[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.

[[Page S6208]]

  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.

                          ____________________