UPDATED: HEROES Phoenix VA Whistleblowers Against The Sociopathic Business Model™
May 3, 2014
UPDATED: 5/21/2014
WAY TO GO DR. SAM FOOTE and DR. KATHERINE MITCHELL for keeping the government accountable by using the local media to put pressure ont the national media to get The President of the United States to address the issues in Phoenix via press conference this morning.
This appalling story if finally blooming!
Dr. Sam Foote spent decades working for the Phoenix VA Medical Center, he says he can prove that there was a secret waiting list that postponed veteran care.
Dr. Katherine Mitchell came forward to the Arizona Republic with records that show the hospital was using a secret list to hide the long wait times veterans faced. According to the Republic, Mitchell sent the documents to the paper after receiving a call from a coworker that evidence was being destroyed.
“I had no doubts they were capable of destroying evidence, or altering evidence,” she told the Republic. “So there I am, a 47-year-old doctor with two degrees, trying to figure out where to hide stuff.”
Whistleblowers say officials have been destroying evidence at the Phoenix Veterans Affairs hospital where at least 40 patients died from delays, despite requests from Congress to preserve records. Exposure of the truth and facts are the enemy to The Sociopathic Business Model™.
Hey where have we seen something similar before? Johnson & Johnson improperly destroyed files about some vaginal-mesh implants and may have to let juries weighing lawsuits over the devices hear evidence about the destruction, a court official said.
So now we should expect the Phoenix VA to respond via The Sociopathic Business Model™ which will include inconsistent and contradictory language; and, the two whistleblowers, Dr. Foote and Dr. Mitchell, demeaned, insulted, threatened intimidated, and made to feel hopeless for trying to expose the truth.
“To date we have found no evidence of a secret list, and we have no patients who have died because they have been on a waiting list,” said Dr. Robert Petzel with the Department of Veterans Affairs.
-Manipulating and not recognizing the rights of others
-Views people as accomplices (the doctors prior to their coming forward) and now victims for speaking out against
-Lack of accountability, remorse, shame or guilt
–Pathological lies (Dr. Foote turned evidence over to the Inspector General, in fact; he spent an hour and a half with the IG’s team last week. “There is a mountain of evidence on that subject that is sitting on the IG’s desk here in Phoenix and its growing larger every single day,” said Foote.
-Create hopelessness in victims (those who are patients in the Phoenix VA and those who want to expose the truth)
-Created an unhappy work environment
Dr. Foote coming forward and playing this case out in the court of public opinion and in the media is bringing swift attention and action to a long standing problem.
Three executives of the veterans hospital in Phoenix have been placed on administrative leave amid an investigation into allegations of corruption and unnecessary deaths at the facility, federal officials announced Thursday.
Phoenix VA Health Care System Director Sharon Helman and associate director Lance Robinson would be placed on leave “until further notice,” U.S. Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki said. The third employee was not identified in a statement Shinseki issued from Washington.
Why isn’t there transparency on who the third person placed on leave is?
Could it possibly be:
Dr. Robert Petzel with the Department of Veterans Affairs who was quoted above?
Three Arizona congressmen called for Helman to step down amid allegations of gross mismanagement and neglect at the facility.
Republican Reps. David Schweikert, Matt Salmon and Trent Franks also sent a letter to Shinseki, asking him to remove Helman and her leadership team.
Salmon said Thursday that the VA chief made the right decision.
“Hopefully, this is the first step in rebuilding the trust and restoring the confidence that our Arizona veterans have lost in our VA system,” the congressman said in a statement.
Now the public and media just need to keep pressure on the Phoenix VA and Congress to follow through on an investigation, prosecute the guilty and make the necessary positive changes while putting a plan in place to prevent this from happening again!
And perhaps Representative David Schweikert will tell us how he’ll vote: Pass The Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act, since we reached out to his office a month ago.
Sue Sweet
Dr. Foote had one advantage that others who have tried but failed to get the attention this needed.. His title, reputation and retirement. Those who are currently employed by the VHA must fight a complex system of policies, political nepotism of strategically placed loyal supervisor, managers and executive staff. Their number one tool those tyrants use to keep employees submissive is the use of the Administrative Investigation Board.. Handbook and Directive 0700 publications of the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of General Counsel. When the Hospital Leadership labels you as a trouble maker, you are ostracized by all for fear that if they get close to you they will suffer the safe fate. Poor ratings, continuous harassment by supervisors, false allegations, investigations and disciplinary actions impact your moral and family life making it difficult to survive daily life.
Melayna Lokosky
Sue-I 100% agree rampant corporate and governmental corruption, which cost taxpayers at the very least billions, is entrenched in both systems and can be easily identified when the characteristics of a sociopath are personified and applied to current headlines known as The Sociopathic Business Model™ for the purpose of exposing the truth and creating positive change.
The Sociopathic Business Model™ maintains that factions within business and government are operating like corrupt monarchies where CEO’s or Government Officials are acting like corrupt kings who repeatedly tell pathologically lies, engage in illegal and unethical behavior while manipulating the rights of others and threaten and intimate those who want to expose the truth which hold the companies or government accountability and risk their rewards.
Those who employ The Sociopathic Business Model ™ view consumers, employees, patients and taxpayers as accomplices but when challenged and exposure of the truth and facts damages their image, accomplices become victims through fear, intimidation, and insults. (As you mentioned)
The purpose of this website is to provider consumers, patients, employees, taxpayers and media a tool to help them identify when company or government officials may be employing The Sociopathic Business Model™, how to identify when PR Spin (that includes titles like Democrat and Republican) are used to suppress the truth and encourage people to trust fact based evidence to make the best decisions for themselves and their families. The goal is to not allow those who employ The Sociopathic Business Model™ who have encouraged, replicated and been rewarded for their unethical and illegal behavior to continue at our expense any longer.
Thank you for reading and I’m truly sorry that you are caught up in the system that punishes those who seek to tell the truth. Remain strong! Melayna
James A Jenkins Jr.
I would like to thank both professionals for fighting the good fight. I have taken that position as well. Advocating, addressing tort activity. Conducting an investigation into wrongdoing. This population has been overlook and a cover up culture which has been in place for many years has taken hold of the agency. Trust the newly appointed secretary can correct the hard-line culture.
Melayna Lokosky
Welcome to the site! I think you’ll get along well here. All people righting the wrongs of the corrupt through forced accountability. I’ll check out you page as well.
Margaret RN
It is very interesting to see someone has actually put a name on this evolving problem in healthcare management. It is creating a dangerous climate with professionals. If you speak out as an advocate for patients you become the problem.
My greatest respect to Dr. Katherine Mitchell for being a hero and telling the truth.
Being in an emergency room setting with high patient acuity and then having management not support the front line employees is wrong. Policies should include acuity in staffing patterns. This is an old problem and physicians as well as registered nurses need to be able to address these serious issues without fear of retaliation.
Melayna Lokosky
Margaret-thank you for taking the time to read and comment, it’s truly appreciated. You hit the nail on the head: the truth is punished and retaliated against where those engaged in unethical & illegal behavior on behalf of an employer who uses tactics from The Sociopathic Business Model™ are encouraged, replicated and rewarded.
One of the purposes of this site is to teach those who seek to tell the truth how to protect their jobs as they release the truth-the truth others would rather remain hidden to protect their image and in turn profits. Allowing profits to come before patients is still a huge problem and one that’s not addressed by Obamacare, the private healthcare industry and the healthcare industry as a whole. There’s still a lot of the blame game and not a lot of accountability from the guilty parties. The hard working employees like yourself and Dr. Katherine Mitchell take the fall for the fraud while those who devised the unethical & illegal programs are encouraged by allowing the activity to be replicated and ultimately rewarded.
When management does not want to support the front lines it’s often a sign that they’re employing tactics from The Sociopathic Business Model™ and you have to be able to protect yourself before you can hope to protect others (in this case patients). Keep fighting the good fight and please let me know if there’s anything I can do to help. Again, thanks for reading and commenting. Melayna
https://www.killingmycareer.com/the-sociopathic-business-model/