Page 23 - Phoenix Va News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

New records show the va at the center of this growing scandal shelled out millions of dollars in bonuses over the past three years. investigative reporter robert o'dell and craig harris breaking that story as they have so many others. robert, you first, what was going on here and why were they getting the bonuses? >> they were getting the bonuses in part for meeting these wait time goals that they had. but part of the way they were meeting those goals was to put patience on wait lists and not give patients timely appointments. so one of the things we did was we asked -- started asking three mo...

More outsxrag disbelief in the v.a. scandal. sadly, no hearing will change the state of the vets who have died waiting for care. with me now, good evening, congressman. you are not only a congressman, you are a physician, a veteran, you questioned the v.a. officials in the phoenix scandal. i don't know if you heard this, congressman, but dr. mitchell just told us, and i don't think you've even heard this. that the i.g. was intentionally slanlting reports to favor the veterans administration. what do you think of that? >> i just heard it when you had the interview. i am completely disenchanted ...

Treatment and i'm hoping that will be in their final report. >> but doctor, when you were actually repry imagineded and put on administrative leave, i mean, what did you think? >> i assumed my v.a. career was over. it is not unusual for the v.a. to make up things and sabotage a physician's contrary for bringing things forward. it is not just at phoenix v.a. it is across the country. >> excuse me. was this common knowledge that this is what was happening? did the i.g. speak to you about this? >> the i.g. speak to me for about two hours. but you'll have to clarify which this you're talking about...

With me now, dr. katherine mitchell. she is a whistle blower who tried to expose this scandal but was repry imagined and was put on administrative leave by the v.a. you tried to expose the scandal. you were put on administrative leave. what did you witness that made you come forward? >> actually, i was working on a project to decrease the number of suicides in the phoenix v.a. although our rate is below the national level, our rates of suicide have doubled. i was going through charts trying to figure out what special things we could have put in place to stack the cards in the veterans' favor s...

Are private companies providing your insurance. that's what makes it work so well. that's why romney did it in massachusetts. >> stop with the romney thing. here's the thing, richard. once the government says, you cannot have your doctor, you cannot keep your insurance, i've got to pay for your mental health, i've got to pay for your transgender operation, i've got to pay for 12 million illegals, i have to pay for all this, how can it possibly not be something that is a disaster if we can't get doctors to work for the v.a., how can we possibly get doctors to cover everybody else? >> well, ther...