The Department of Veterans Affairs has linked the recent deaths of at least 19 vets diagnosed with cancer in 2010 and 2011 to appointment backlogs and delays at VA hospitals and clinics and resulting hindrances in care….

That this is something entirely correctible from within the VA is corroborated by the VA’s continued coverup of responsibility.  The VA so far has refused to identify those responsible for these veterans’ deaths or for the delay-caused or exacerbated injuries of many other vets, and the VA has refused to discipline or fire anyone—anyone at all—regarding this…problem, according to Congressman Jeff Miller (R, FL), House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman.  Miller also said

I don’t want to hear the excuse anymore that “It was multi-faceted. … There were many people involved.”  If there were many people involved then they all need to go.

We are not asking for one particular person, we want to know exactly why things happened and who was held responsible.  At this point publicly, we haven’t seen anybody held responsible.

“They all need to go” must include General Eric Shinseki, Secretary of Veterans Affairs, who seems disinterested, or unable, to correct these problems.

Enough.  This VA needs to be gotten rid of entirely, and the function absorbed into the Department of Defense, where fellow veterans, both active and now-civilian, will be more likely to take such matters seriously.  That a Cabinet-level functionality like the present VA should behave in this way is utterly reprehensible and wholly unacceptable.