The house committee on veterans affairs held a hearing on Wednesday to examine the relationship of wait-time manipulation and patient deaths at the Phoenix VA medical center.
During the testimony, whistleblower and former Phoenix VA physician Dr. Samuel Foote asserted that the newly released report by the Office of the Inspector General was designed to minimize the scandal.
"In my opinion, this was a conspiracy, possibly criminally perpetrated by senior Phoenix leaders," Foote said.
Acting Inspector General Richard Griffin denied those allegations.
One of the largest issues surrounded the OIG conclusion that wait time did not "conclusively cause" the death of any patient.
When asked for clarification on the language used in the report Assistant Inspector General Dr. John Daigh, conceded that delays did "contribute" to patient deaths, but stopped short of claiming causality.
"The issue is cause. The direct relationship," he explained. "How tight of a relationship do you want? That’s where the difficulty is."
Griffin disagreed, saying only that wait times may have contributed to patient deaths.
