Washington D.C. – U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) today visited the Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center in Clarksburg to meet with Veterans and hospital staff. Senator Manchin has been in contact with U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie, Clarksburg VA Director Dr. Snider, United States Attorney General William Barr in order to expedite the investigation and get these grieving families answers.
“I’m frustrated that I’m not getting answers because of the ongoing investigation. All of the facts will come out and no one in the VA system will be protected if they had any involvement in this horrible crime against Veterans. We owe every Veteran the best possible care they’ve earned. As a member of the Veterans Affairs Committee I will do everything in my power to get to the bottom of this,” Senator Manchin said.
Below is a timeline of steps Senator Manchin and his office have taken during the investigation.
On Thursday, July 5th 2018, Senator Manchin’s office was notified by the VA Inspector General that at least nine in-patients at the Clarksburg VA hospital had been diagnosed with significant hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) of unclear cause over the past 9 months, and that they had opened a medical and criminal investigation into the matter.
On Friday, July 6th 2018, Dr. Glenn Snider, the director of the Clarksburg VA, hosted a call with the West Virginia Congressional delegation to discuss the investigation. He reported the following chain of events:
On June 18th 2018, several doctors reported 8 episodes of low blood sugar with no identified medical cause to the Clarksburg Quality Management (QM) team.
On June 26th 2018, the QM team elevated the issue to Dr. Snider, who then called Under Secretary Steve Young at the VA Central Office to report the issue.
On July 2-3rd 2018, seven VA Inspector General (VAOIG) staff came to the Clarksburg VA to open an investigation.
On Wednesday, July 10th 2018, Senator Manchin sent a letter to then-Acting Secretary of the VA Peter O’Rourke expressing serious concerns about the unexplained episodes of hypoglycemia at the Clarksburg VA. He also clearly stated that he expected VA leadership at every level to cooperate fully with the IG investigation.
