Florida VA hospitals will be part of a national audit looking into claims that veterans have died waiting for care, The Tampa Tribunereports.
Every facility with 10,000 or more patients will be part of the review that starts today. It is in response to recent media reports that as many as 40 patients at an Arizona VA facility died while waiting for treatment, and that other facilities falsified documents to cover up delays, The Tribune reports.
Tampa’s Haley Veterans’ Hospital and the C.W. “Bill” Young VA Medical Center in St. Petersburg are among the busiest of the nation’s 150 VA facilities.
The reports have triggered bipartisan criticism among Florida politicians, ranging from U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Jacksonville, to Republicans Gov. Rick Scott and U.S. Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Chumuckla, who chairs the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, the Orlando Sentinel reports.