Illegal Gifts
Ex-Phoenix
VA Hospital Boss Firing Upheld for Accepting Illegal Gifts
This
undated handout photo provided by The Veterans Affairs Department, shows Sharon
Helman, director of the Phoenix VA Health Care System. (AP Photo/Veterans Affairs Department)
Dec 23, 2014 | by Bryant Jordan
An appeals board has backed the firing of Sharon Helman as director of the
VA medical center in Phoenix, Arizona, but not because it connected her to long
patient wait-times and manipulated data at the hospital.
Instead the appeals board supported the firing because
she accepted gifts from contractors.
Helman was fired in November, seven months after being
placed on administrative leave amid whistleblower allegations that up to 40
veterans died while awaiting an appointment. It was also alleged that she had
retaliated against employees who tried to focus attention on problems at the
hospital. However, the U.S. Merit System Protection Board, who reviewed her
firing, said they found no evidence of that.
Chief Administrative Judge Stephen C. Mish said the
U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board is satisfied with VA evidence that Helman
accepted multiple airline and concert tickets. Helman accepted tickets for a
Beyonce concert, Chang's Rock & Roll Arizona Marathon, the Mississippi
Blues Marathon and an eight-night stay at Disney World from a consultant to a
healthcare provider looking to do business with the VA facility, according to
evidence.
Mish said in his ruling that the VA failed to make its
case that Helman was directly responsible for the wait-times scandal that
rocked an already troubled agency starting in April, or that she ordered the
reassignments of medical staff that previously tried to report problems with the
facility.
Though the VA was able to show that patient data and
appointments were being manipulated and standards were not being met, it could
not demonstrate that Helman directed any of the wrongful actions. Mish also
said VA could not show that Helman had a role in reassigning staff that raised
concerns about hospital operations.
This included Dr. Katherine Mitchell, director of the
emergency department, who had advised Helman in early 2012 that the department
was so understaffed and dangerous that it needed to be shut down.
Mitchell reportedly continued to raise concerns and in
December 2012 she was reassigned to another department.
She later wrote out her allegations in a letter to
Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona.
Mish dismissed Helman's argument that her firing was
in part owed to media reports and demands by lawmakers that she be fired.
"The press and Congressional attention has been
on the charges the [VA] has failed to prove," he wrote.
Mish rejected Helman's claim that she forgot about
accepting airline tickets.
"I conclude that [Helman's] misconduct ... was
not inadvertent," Mish said. "Sincerely forgetting about one of the
plane rides purchased for her might be understandable in some circumstances,
but the notion she actually forgot them all strains credulity."
"Moreover, accepting gifts such as tickets to a
popular performer's concert from a person who represents companies seeking to
do business with the agency was, more probably than not, not an accident or
mistake."
Mish concluded that Helman's offenses were serious and
not an accident or mistake. He said she would have to have known from filling
out and signing an Office of Government Ethics form that accepting such gifts
would constitute "actionable misconduct."
The lavish gifts, totaling thousands of dollars in
all, were provided to Helman by Dennis "Max" Lewis, vice
president of Jefferson Consulting Group, a consultant for a healthcare company
wanting to do business with the VA facilities' community-based outpatient
clinics.
The air travel she accepted included flights between
Phoenix and several states – as well as a 2012 trip to Vancouver, British
Columbia – for concerts or other events. The family trip to Disneyland cost
$11,000, according to the ruling.
"You knew or should have known that the acceptance
of these gifts creates the appearance of a conflict of interest," Mish
wrote.
Mish also rejected the idea that Helman could return
to VA employment.
"I conclude [she] has little rehabilitative
potential," he wrote. "She has steadfastly denied any wrongdoing in
the course of this appeal and attempted to deflect attention from her own
actions by pointing to political considerations and complaining that the agency
has been looking into her private life."
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