Congressional oversight visit scheduled at Augusta VA | The Augusta Chronicle

The chairman of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs announced Wednesday that he will lead a congressional oversight visit at the Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center on Jan. 6 to determine why three cancer patients needlessly died because of a lack of care in the Augusta hospital’s gastrointestinal clinic.

Rep. Jeff Miller, a Florida Republican, said the visit will include an executive briefing from Augusta VA officials regarding the steps department leaders have taken to address problems with delays in care for more than 5,000 veterans.

The announcement comes after almost a month of negotiations by Rep. John Barrow, D-Ga., to host a hearing at the hospital to “hold accountable VA employees and executives who may be responsible for allowing patients to slip through the cracks.”

Barrow said in a statement Wednesday that he is looking forward to welcoming Miller to Augusta and that he hopes this visit provides the answers his district needs.

“There’s no question that someone dropped the ball at the Charlie Norwood VA when it came to providing the best care for our nation’s veterans,” Barrow said. “We need to get to the bottom of what went wrong so we can prevent it in the future – we owe that to our service men and women.”

via Congressional oversight visit scheduled at Augusta VA | The Augusta Chronicle.