Acting VA Secretary: 18 Vets On Phoenix Wait List Died

Photo Credit: David Wallace, The Arizona RepublicInvestigators have determined that more than 100,000 veterans nationwide were kept off waiting lists for medical appointments, and Acting Veterans Affairs Secretary Sloan Gibson said the nation will learn Monday how many patients were relegated to “secret lists.”

During a news conference Thursday at the Carl T. Hayden Medical Center in Phoenix, where the VA medical scandal erupted, Gibson also disclosed that at least 18 Arizona veterans died while awaiting doctor appointments, though it remains unclear whether the delayed care is to blame for those fatalities.

Gibson said he had details on 14 of the deaths and it appeared most had contacted the VA for “end of life care.”

“None of that excuses us,” said Gibson. “These lists were not being worked — inexcusable.”

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