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Rep. Murphy on VA Pittsburgh: Investigation Is Not Over

Rep. Murphy on VA Pittsburgh: Investigation Is Not Over

Murphy questions Veterans Affairs Deputy Secretary Sloan Gibson on promotion of Pittsburgh VA official who played key role in Legionnaires’ outbreak scandal. Click photo to watch.

For Immediate Release: Thursday, November 13, 2014
Contact: Murphy Press, 202.225.2301

(WASHINGTON, DC) – At a hearing of the House Veterans Affairs Committee today, Congressman Tim Murphy (PA-18) said the firing of a top official responsible for the Legionnaires’ Disease outbreak that caused the deaths of six veterans and sickened 21 others in Pittsburgh was the right thing to do, but the investigation is not over.

Earlier today, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced that Terry Gerigk Wolf had been removed as the Director of the Pittsburgh VA Healthcare System (VAPHS) for “conduct unbecoming a Senior Executive” and “wasteful spending.” Murphy called on the VA to provide additional details about her removal, including the wasteful spending, and all disciplinary action taken against those responsible for the deadly outbreak. Murphy also urged Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs Sloan Gibson to examine why Wolf’s deputy, David Cord, received a promotion to run the VA in Erie, Pennsylvania despite having played a key role in the outbreak. Cord withheld information about the outbreak from the public and the media, then misled Congress about an 700-patient waiting list for medical care at the Pittsburgh VA.


“Now we find out that David Cord has been promoted to head of the Erie VA. I think this is indefensible and incomprehensible, and it sends a terrible message to the employees of the VA system that if you hide information and even though people die, you’re going to get promoted,” said Murphy.

“People died in this process. He [Cord] is involved in a chain of people withholding information from the public, and now this as well, where he directly misled me on information. I want you to look into that. If you’re trying to change the morale of the VA and hold people accountable, again it’s incomprehensible to me that a man like this is told he’s promoted,” Murphy said to Deputy Secretary Gibson.

Since tasking the VA Office of the Inspector General and the House Veterans Affairs Committee with undertaking investigations, Murphy has pressed VA leadership in Pittsburgh and Washington, DC to take action in response to the systemic failures at VAPHS that resulted in the deaths of at least six veterans and sickened 21 from Legionnaires’ Disease. Murphy has repeatedly called for a “full and open accounting” of any disciplinary or administrative actions taken against employees responsible for the outbreak. According to a letter Murphy received from the VA on July 24th, “three of the five cases for the individuals who VA initiated actions against have been completed.”

After the hearing, Murphy received a promise from Deputy Secretary Sloan to review Cord’s case and meet with Murphy personally on the disciplinary action taken in the wake of the Pittsburgh Legionnaires’ scandal.

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