The Department of Veteran Affairs has fired Sharon Helman, director of its Phoenix medical center, six months after she was placed on administrative leave after manipulated wait lists masking delays in veterans' care came to light, according to The New York Times.
According to The New York Times, the VA formally removed Ms. Helman after a formal investigation substantiated "allegations of lack of oversight and other misconduct."
About 1,700 patients in Phoenix were not placed on proper waiting lists for appointments and may never have received care, the inspector general's initial report in May said. Falsifications may have led to better performance reviews for hospital personnel, the report concluded.
While the inspector general initially said investigators were unable to conclusively link the delays to as many as 40 veterans' deaths in Phoenix, at a subsequent hearing in Congress, the department's assistant inspector general for healthcare inspections, Dr. John D. Daigh Jr., acknowledged that delays in Phoenix did contribute to some deaths, according to the article.
The department has named Glenn Grippen, a former VA healthcare administrator, interim director in Phoenix.