Federal Investigative Agency Allegedly Snubbed Audio Tape of Scheme to Destroy VA's Healthcare Recor

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Federal-Investigative-Agen-by-Ward-Jordan-Disabled_Discrimination_Employees_Federal-Employees-140314-250.html

Federal Investigative Agency Allegedly Snubbed Audio Tape of Scheme to Destroy VA's Healthcare Records; Lawsuit Filed
By Ward Jordan
OpEdNews Op Eds 3/14/2014 at 11:59:36

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California (Case No. CV 13-6030-ODW), details how U.S. Marine Corps veteran Oliver Mitchell was removed from his job at the Veterans Affairs' (VA) Greater West Los Angeles Medical Center after his efforts to timely schedule patient exams and to expose the destruction of medical records.



Veteran Whistleblower-Oliver Mitchell

"I was asked to destroy medical requests for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans and computed tomography (CT) scans," said Oliver Mitchell, who once worked as a Patient Services Assistant in the VA's Imaging Service, Radiology Section.

According to Mitchell, in November 2008 VA officials schemed to hide the medical request-records backlog of veterans waiting for care. "There was no carefully thought-out review of past requests for consultations or X-rays in the imaging department to see if the requests were still valid before the purge," added Mitchell.

Mitchell stated he reported his concerns about the VA officials destroying patient records to the Office of Special Counsel first in 2009 and then again in 2013. He told OSC of how VA officials conspired to "book newer patients first." Mitchell recounted one of his co-workers explicitly stating: "It isn't good health care; but it plays the system, because after 30 days they drop off the radar anyway."