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May 25th, 2016 
Awake Goy
Susanne Posel ,Chief Editor Occupy Corporatism | Media Spokesperson, HEALTH MAX Brands
According to Danny Pummill, Veterans Affairs (VA) Undersecretary for Benefits, an estimated 4,201 former soldiers have been wrongfully declared deceased before they actually died.
Going back to 2011 through 2015, these non-deceased veterans had their benefits stripped from them – by accident.
Congressman Dave Jolly wrote a letter to Pummill, asking the VA why this had happened. Pummill said it was an “employee error” combined with a glitch in the data program that caused this issue.
Jolly used this information to point out that this situation confirms previous suspicions “that mistaken deaths by the VA have been a widespread problem impacting thousands of veterans across the country.”
The congressman also said: “It’s a problem that should have been addressed years ago, as it has caused needless hardships for thousands of people who had their benefits terminated and their world turned upside down.”
Pummill’s revelation is the latest in a series of callousness displayed by the VA.
Earlier this week, Bob McDonald, secretary for the VA told reporters that “the days to an appointment is really not what we should be measuring”, but rather “the veteran’s satisfaction.”
McDonald then said: “When you go to Disney, do they measure the number of hours you want in line? What’s important is what’s your satisfaction with the experience. And that’s really the kind of measure I want to move to.”
In this one comment, McDonald showed a complete lack of empathy for the problems the VA has had in recent years with handling veteran’s medical needs.
Senator Roy Blunt responded to McDonald’s comment with a call for his resignation, saying that the VA secretary’s comments were “preposterous” and immature.
In addition, Senator Mark Kirk suggested McDonald “should be embarrassed” by his comment, and Congresswoman Tammy Duckworth called the VA secretary “tone deaf”.
House Speaker Paul Ryan shared a message with McDonald through the media: “This is not make-believe, Mr. Secretary. Veterans have died waiting in those lines.”
Back several years ago, a report on the Phoenix VA Medical Center (PVAMC) showed that veteran deaths at the facility are due to secret waiting lists.
The investigation also showed that the Phoenix VA Healthcare System (PVAHS) kept dual records of patients to obscure their waiting times – as much as nearly 60 days to go without medical care.
Sam Foote, former doctor for the PVAHS revealed that the “secret waiting list was used by senior management to conceal the fact that 1,400 to 1,600 sick veterans were forced to wait months to see a doctor.”
Foote said that this “sham” list was a “scheme [to] deliberately . . . avoid the VA’s own internal rules.”
According to Foote, the “official” list showed a waiting time of 14 to 30 days; however to cover their tracks, “the developed the secret waiting list.”
When a veteran wanted to make an appointment, Foote said: “They enter information into the computer and do a screen-capture, hard-copy printout. They then do not save what was put into the computer — so there’s no record.”
Foote explained : “That hard copy is then placed into a secret electronic waiting list, Foote said, with the paper data being shredded. He also revealed that patients wouldn’t be taken off the secret list until their appointment time was within 14 days or less —giving the appearance that the VA was improving waiting times. I feel very sorry for the people who work at the Phoenix VA. They all wish they could leave ’cause they know what they’re doing is wrong.”
Media reports show that in July of 2013, Sharon Helman, director at the PVAHS, knew about this secret waiting list that was electronic and “off-the-books”.
Helman is also accused of knowing that veterans were being forced to wait 6 – 20 weeks for their initial appointment with a primary care physician.
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