Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony Principi says he is demanding answers about patient care and stewardship at Bay Pines VA Medical Center and doesn't "subscribe to the theory that, "Let's circle the wagons.' " The latest stunt by hospital director Smith Jenkins, though, looks like just that kind of bureaucratic bunker mentality: armed guards at the executive suite.
A day after Jenkins was challenged by his own hospital spokesman, Larry Christman, over information that Christman believed to be misleading to the public, three VA officers with firearms were suddenly stationed outside the main entrance and in and around the executive offices. The guards have since been removed, but Principi's own spokeswoman, Cynthia Church, described them as "a visual" to reassure hospital staff members that, despite the controversies, business was proceeding as usual. How reassuring.
The guards, combined with the abrupt replacement of Christman as spokesman, sent an entirely different "visual" to the people who work at Bay Pines. As Dr. Samuel Carranza, a lung specialist at Bay Pines, put it: "This is what happens when people disagree (with management). They get shoved off."
To his credit, Principi appears to be taking the allegations of mismanagement seriously and has ordered a VA inspector general investigation. But neither he nor the congressional committees that are asking questions will be well-served by an atmosphere of fear at the hospital.
Clearly, something is significantly wrong with a $472-million computer system that has been installed, and some critical medical supplies and surgeries have been delayed as a result. But the only way to determine accurately the extent to which patient care has suffered is to allow the hospital staff to talk freely and without fear of reprisal.
Armed guards don't contribute to the search for truth at Bay Pines.
