Senator Joe Manchin told the nominee for deputy secretary for Veterans Affairs that individuals still need to be held accountable for the lapses that allowed multiple veterans to be killed at a West Virginia nursing home.
During a hearing today of the U.S. Senate’s Veterans Affairs Committee, Manchin asked nominee Donald M. Remy to help assure those former VA hospital leaders won’t just be shuffled to new jobs.
“As the nominee to be deputy secretary of the VA, reform and accountability for the Clarksburg murders is largely going to fall under your purview so I need your commitment,” Manchin said.
Former nursing assistant Reta Mays was sentenced last week to consecutive life terms for the deaths of eight veterans. Mays admitted causing their deaths by administering unnecessary and lethal doses of insulin while she worked the overnight shift.
A blistering federal report released last week concluded that although former nursing aide Reta Mays bears ultimate responsibility for the murders of multiple veterans, missteps at the veterans hospital in Clarksburg opened the door to those tragedies.
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The 100-page report concluded that excessive force allegations against Mays during an earlier job as a corrections officer meant she never should have been hired by the veterans hospital, which didn’t complete proper background checks.
And she also should not have had access to the insulin that caused fatal hypoglycemic episodes among the veterans.
“Ultimately, the failure of leaders at multiple levels to ensure patient safety resulted in the tragic events described in this report,” wrote the inspector general for Veterans Affairs.
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Yet rather than losing their jobs, some top staff at the hospital appeared to transfer within the agency.
The VA announced last Christmas Eve that the hospital’s director, Glenn Snider Jr., would no longer serve in that role. Snider was reassigned and has been working at a regional office. Manchin indicated this week that the former director has retired as of this past Friday.
The medical center’s top executive for nursing was also reassigned to another job within the agency last Dec. 28.
The VA has acknowledged other personnel changes but with no specifics.
“Other personnel actions have occurred; however, due to privacy we are unable to provide those,” said Wesley Walls, spokesman for the Clarksburg VA hospital in response to MetroNews questions.
An archived version of the hospital’s leadership page shows that in October, 2020, Snider was the director, Terry Massey was the associate director, Pramoda Devabhaktuni was the chief of staff, and Paul Carter was the associate director for patient care services. Massey is now listed as the associate director of the VA St. Louis Health Care System.
The current leadership page for the hospital shows all those jobs are being filled on an interim basis.
Manchin today said he wants more specifics about what has happened with the hospitals former leaders.
“Are they still in the system? What was the time they retired? And are they getting full benefits from retirement?” he asked. “They’re complicit. They should be held accountable for allowing this to happen.”
But Manchin said he needs the VA’s cooperation to learn more.
“I’m trying to find out where all these people were passed around, and they were passed around. They’re in the system,” the senator said. “If we can’t protect the VA, if we’re just going to pass people around that are incompetent and have shown they’re not qualified for the position, then shame on all of us.
“So this is where I need accountability. That’s why we’ll be holding everyone responsible for this.”
Remy, an Army veteran who is nominated for the deputy role at the VA, has been chief operating officer for the NCAA college sports league.
Responding to Manchin at the hearing today, Remy said he had already read the report by the Office of Inspector General. “You have my commitment that I’ll continue to dig on this issue until all the people are held accountable,” Remy said.
Senator Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, spoke next and said the missteps outlined in the report should not be considered just a West Virginia issue.
“It, of course, impacts West Virginia. But really it’s an issue that all of us care about. Because if it happened in West Virginia it could happen in Alaska, it could happen in Montana,” Sullivan said.
“I appreciate your support on this issue, which is horrible for America not just West Virginia.”