DENVER — Two U.S. senators said Tuesday they asked for an
investigation into a whistleblower's report that an Army veteran killed himself while awaiting treatment for
post-traumatic stress disorder at a U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs clinic
in Colorado Springs.
Sens. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., and Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said they
also asked the department's inspector general to investigate whether the
whistleblower faced retaliation after reporting his concerns.
The inspector general's office is the Veteran Affairs department's
internal watchdog.
The department will work with the inspector general and the
senators to determine what happened, agency spokesman Paul Sherbo said.
The senators did not identify the soldier who killed himself but
said he was 26 and had served as an Army Ranger.
Gardner said he wanted to avoid a repeat of a 2014 scandal over
long wait times that veterans endured to get health care, and allegations that
some VA officials falsified records to cover up the problem.
The scandal led to the ouster of Veteran Affairs Secretary Eric
Shinseki.
Gardner said the whistleblower also reported that the Colorado
Springs clinic might have tampered with its wait list records after the
veteran's death.
Seven months ago, the Veteran Affairs inspector general said
workers at the Colorado Springs clinic incorrectly reported that some veterans
got appointments sooner than they actually did.
Investigators did not say whether the records were deliberately
falsified.
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