My thanks to the panel. VA Pittsburgh has been caught manipulating their own data to cover poor maintenance of the copper-silver system.
Make no mistake, the VA will be closely scrutinized for its actions towards those who have testified here today.
There was a tragic failure in leadership at the local level, the VISN level, and at the VA central office level.
Furthermore, there has been a serious breakdown in how the VA assessed its responsibility in diagnosing and reporting Legionella.
This hearing is necessary in order to accomplish a number of items.
There must be an accounting for the failures that have been identified through hard evidence.
We never got a response. Nobody ever came back to us.
And in the end, five veterans died. Five veterans died that we know of.
There needs to be a unified focus from CDC, the VA, and other organizations.
VA is committed to providing the highest quality of care that our Veterans have earned and deserve.
There is a glaring disparity between what VA accepts responsibility for and what CDC and others attribute to the VA.