HAMPTON, Va. — The Hampton Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center is accused of employee retaliation, patient safety concerns, and medical incompetence.
This week, Rep. Jen Kiggans (R, VA-02) and House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Mike Bost (R, Illinois) demanded that the VA provide documentation requested in April by the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee.
In a letter to VA Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough, Kiggans and Bost wrote: "Every day these allegations go unaddressed is another day patients may be at risk."
"They have sent us a letter back saying it's a lot of information we requested. But they still need to provide those answers. And they need to do it in a timely manner," Kiggans said in an interview Friday with 13News Now.
She continued: "That is our role on the Veterans Affairs Committee to provide that oversight and have our questions answered so we can do an investigation if that's necessary into these complaints."
In a statement to 13News Now, VA Press Secretary Terrence Hayes said: "We have been investigating and taking steps to address concerns at the Hampton VA Medical Center since August of last year, including making multiple site visits to review and evaluate surgical services and instituting clinical care and peer reviews of the surgical care we offer."
Hayes concluded: "We continue to work closely and urgently to make sure we are delivering the world-class surgical care that local Veterans deserve, and we will not rest until any issues are addressed."
A June 2022 VA Inspector General report identified multiple providers' failures to communicate, act on, and document abnormal test results from July 2019 until April 2021, related to a patient who was diagnosed with metastatic prostate cancer.