Courageous VA Doctor hid records to save them

Second VA doctor blows whistle on patient-care failures
USA TODAY
Dennis Wagner
May 2, 2014

Corrections and clarifications: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that employees thought documents were being destroyed on Sunday. Dr. Katherine Mitchell said she and a colleague feared that patient records were about to be destroyed and moved to preserve them.

(Photo: Nick Oz, The Arizona Republic) Late on Sunday night, Dr. Katherine Mitchell said she received a phone call from a fellow employee at the Phoenix VA hospital who needed advice on how to handle a sensitive situation.

Her co-worker explained that patient appointment records in the Phoenix VA Health Care System were in danger of being destroyed. But he had printed paper copies to ensure that accurate wait times for patient care would not be lost if removed from computers. The purported "secret lists," along with accusations that up to 40 Arizona veterans died awaiting care, are the subject of national controversy and investigations by Congress and the VA Inspector General.

Mitchell was a confidante with experience — nearly 16 years at the veterans hospital, first as a nurse who became supervising physician in the emergency room, then as medical director over a transition program for veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

She said her colleague explained that the documents were likely to be deleted within a day. Aware that the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs had issued orders for the VA to preserve documents at the medical center in Phoenix, the two agreed to protect evidence.

Mitchell said she went to the medical center and walked her co-worker to VA police headquarters, where they asked officers to secure the documentation. Police declined, Mitchell said, but suggested they find a safe place to conceal the materials inside the hospital.

Twelve hours later, Mitchell said, her co-worker delivered the evidence and a statement to an investigator from the Office of the Inspector General while Mitchell visited The Arizona Republic, asserting status as a government whistle-blower.

Mitchell struggled with emotions as she described the incident, her career-threatening decision and concerns about the integrity of VA administrators.

"I had no doubts they were capable of destroying evidence, or altering evidence," she said. "So there I am, a 47-year-old doctor with two degrees, trying to figure out where to hide stuff.

"I spent my whole professional life wanting to be a VA nurse, and then a VA physician. ...(But) the insanity in the system right now needs to stop, and whatever I can do to accomplish that, I will."
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