Fayetteville Veteran Affairs Medical Center

Floor Speech

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Mr. BOOZMAN. Mr. President, I wish to highlight an incident that occurred in my home State of Arkansas that has negatively impacted veterans and their families. A former pathologist at the Fayetteville VA Medical Center was found to be impaired, was immediately removed from clinical care, and has since been terminated. A thorough independent review of all cases read by this pathologist is currently underway. This review will be handled by entities outside of the Fayetteville VA Medical Center to include other VA facilities and academic affiliates. At this time, a small percentage of cases have been found to be misdiagnosed. In total, 33,000 samples will be reviewed using a tiered risk prioritization.

In response, I have submitted an amendment cosponsored by the entire Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma delegation. This amendment would require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to submit to the congressional committees of jurisdiction a Departmental response plan that can be applied in Fayetteville and in all future incidents and for recommendations about changes necessary to prevent such incidents in the future.

I am very concerned with the procedures and policies that allowed this situation to occur. As the chairman of the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Subcommittee and member of the Senate VA Committee, I am intent on working with the VA to ensure that we enact policies and put in places procedures to prevent such misconduct in the future, both here in Fayetteville and around the country. It is clear that our veterans deserve the best care available, and it is our duty to ensure the Department of Veterans Affairs is providing that service. This is an issue that I will continue to monitor, and I urge my colleagues to do the same.

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