Dive Brief:
- CNN has published allegations that at least 19 veterans have died awaiting medical care at VA hospitals or clinics, Forbes reports.
- The waits seem to be for screening procedures such as colonoscopies or endoscopies, which help physicians make cancer diagnoses.
- VA backlogs in care were previously investigated by CNN in November, when the television network reported on delays in care for gastrointestinal cancer at the William Jennings Bryan Dorn Veterans Medical Center in Columbia, S.C.; at the time, researchers found that of 280 cases of gastrointestinal cancer being treated at the center, more than 50 were characterized by a "delay in diagnosis and treatment."
Dive Insight:
This unfortunate delay in care at Dorn VAMC has been resolved, according to a statement the VA issued to CNN. But it's unlikely that this problem is unique to any one medical center within the sprawling VA system. It's telling that when asked for an interview by Forbes about its most recent issue with delays in care, the VA brass declined, but rather, in a written statement, stated that it was taking steps to make sure that these kind of delays wouldn't happen anywhere else. The VA seems to have a much larger problem on its hands than it wants to discuss.