VA Concedes Whistleblower's Allegations Were True,
Including That It Ignored Veterans' Suicidal Tendencies
By Jamie Reno
on February 19 2014 3:42 PM
A government whistleblower who
suffered retaliation from his agency has been vindicated by a Department of Veterans Affairs admission
that it failed to reach out to 2,000 veterans in a research study who said they
had suicidal ideas, many of whom later committed suicide.
The agency's admission, which has
not been previously publicized, resulted from a congressional inquiry into the
allegations of Dr. Steven Coughlin, a former epidemiologist at the Department
of Veterans Affairs Office of Public Health, who disclosed that the VA was
guilty of shocking ethical lapses.
It has been nearly a year since
Coughlin told the House Veterans Affairs Committee’s (HVAC) Subcommittee on
Oversight and Investigations that he had waged a protracted battle against his
supervisors over ongoing and very serious problems at VA, including its failure
to follow up with some 2,000 vets who indicated in a survey that they'd had
suicidal thoughts.
Coughlin, who conducted surveys of
1991 Gulf War veterans as well as veterans from Operation Iraqi Freedom and
Operation Enduring Freedom--Afghanistan,
also said that VA obscured facts about the impact of toxic exposures on troops
in Iraq and Afghanistan and
the causes of Gulf War illness, and that his bosses intimidated, bullied and
admonished him for speaking out. His testimony last March prompted an inquiry
of VA by the HVAC, and IBTimes has learned from Congressman Jeff Miller
(R-Fla.), the HVAC chairman, that just a few weeks ago, without notifying the
media, VA informed Congress that its Office of Research Oversight had conducted
an internal investigation and substantiated the following Coughlin charges:
VA personnel lost study results
related to family members of veterans of the Persian Gulf War. The results related
to whether diseases such as brain damage were passed from veteran parents to
children due to toxin exposure during the war.
VA personnel did not follow up on
some veterans who admitted to having suicidal ideas -- and who later committed
suicide -- during a study of Gulf War veterans.
Some VA personnel retaliated
against Coughlin for his involvement in highlighting deficiencies in VA
studies.
According to Miller’s office, VA
also assured the subcommittee that it would hold Dr. Michael Peterson, a VA
employee specifically cited by Coughlin during the hearing, accountable for
these failures.
“Now that VA has substantiated
some of Dr. Coughlin’s most troubling allegations, it’s incumbent upon
department leaders to detail the steps they are taking to hold the responsible
parties accountable and ensure protections for future whistleblowers,” Rep.
Miller told IBTimes. “Who was held accountable for not following up on veterans
who later committed suicide? What happened to the VA personnel who retaliated
against Dr. Coughlin? What is VA doing to foster a culture of tolerance for
employees who have the courage to speak out against problems despite hostile
opposition from coworkers and managers? America’s veterans, American
taxpayers and VA’s more than 300,000 employees deserve answers to these
questions in short order.”
VA would not answer any specific
questions about Coughlin’s charges.
A spokesperson for VA sent IBTimes
the following statement: “The Department of Veterans Affairs recognizes and
respects the service, dedication and many challenges of Veterans of the
1990-1991 Gulf War, and is committed to improving the health and well-being of
these Veterans. Research is a vital component in improving that treatment. VA
agrees that there are health issues associated with service in the Gulf War,
and the department wants to ensure Gulf War Veterans have access to the care
and benefits they have earned and deserve. “
The VA spokesperson also declined
to answer questions about Coughlin’s supervisors because the Privacy Act
precludes their discussing personnel matters concerning individual employees.
Whistleblower Coughlin, a Year
Later
Dr. Coughlin, who quit his post at
VA in December 2012 -- three months before appearing on The Hill -- was never
told about VA’s validation of his charges. He only learned of it when contacted
by IBTimes last week, and said he was “very surprised” by the agency’s
response.
“These are very serious admissions
on the part of the VA,” Coughlin said. “I took a beating trying my best to look
out for the interests of U.S.
veterans who were enrolled in our studies and other large-scale epidemiologic
and clinical research studies conducted by VA. I hope that VA’s admissions are
a sign that the situation is improving. Of particular concern is the rights and
welfare of vulnerable research participants, such as people with severe
depression or suicidal thoughts. My thoughts go out to the veterans.”
Coughlin said he’s paying
attention to what happens next at VA, but from a distance -- both
geographically and emotionally. The 56-year-old scientist, who has never felt
comfortable in the spotlight, did his part, he said, and seems happy now to be
out of the fray. He described the past year as one filled with emotional highs and
lows -- the lowest being VA’s retaliation against him, which he said continued
even after he left.
“After I left VA, I was removed as
a co-author from two journal articles on which I had been listed as a co-author
and which had already been submitted to epidemiologic journals,” he said. “When
I found out that my previous supervisor had instructed the lead authors to drop
me as a co-author, I emailed the chief of the Office of Public Health and the
director of the VA Office of Research Oversight, and my name was added back to
one of the two articles.”
Coughlin said after he left VA he
was concerned that he would not be able to find another job and that he might
lose everything.
“It’s more difficult to find a
position if you do not have a positive recommendation from your last employer,”
he said. “I was very fortunate to receive strong support from my family. My
older brother let me live rent-free in his spare bedroom for a year while I
searched for a new position. I took a big financial hit by quitting my job at
the VA in Washington, D.C. However, I enjoyed spending time with
my mother, brother, and my nephews and nieces.”
Coughlin said that while being a
government whistleblower has earned him respect and praise, it also probably
kept some potential employers from hiring him. But with the support of academic
colleagues around the country, Coughlin, who was previously associate professor
of epidemiology and director of the program in public health ethics at Tulane University,
and who once chaired the writing group that prepared the ethics guidelines for
the American College of Epidemiology, was able to
return to academia.
“I have a great job now at the
University of Tennessee College of Medicine in Memphis,” he said. His job is as a senior
researcher in the Research
Center on Health
Disparities, Equity and the Exposome, and a professor in the Department of
Preventive Medicine. (An exposome is a measure of the health effects of lifelong
environmental exposures.)
“The focus of the center is on the
pronounced black-white health disparities in Memphis,” he explained. “African-American
women in Memphis have a twofold increased risk
of dying from breast cancer and the city also has the highest infant mortality
rates in the U.S."
In addition to finding satisfying
new work, Coughlin said that what has kept his spirits up and reminded him that
leaving VA and making his complaints public were the right thing to do are the
supportive messages he’s received from veterans.
“I’ve heard from hundreds of
veterans who have contacted me to thank me for standing up on behalf of
veterans and telling the truth,” he said. “My father was in the U.S. Navy and I
have a nephew who was in the Marines in Iraq
and Afghanistan.”
Integrity Award
Coughlin’s whistleblowing efforts
are getting further validation by the International Society for Environmental
Epidemiology, whose Ethics and Philosophy committee has nominated him for its
Research Integrity Award, citing his “exhibition of great personal and
professional risk in relinquishing his position at the VA after his calls to
stop the suppression of research findings and prevent needless death among
research participants were left unanswered.”
ISEE, in its announcement of
Coughlin's nomination for the award, said that his “inspirational show of
courage and integrity in the face of ethical dilemma can be seen in his refusal
to redact complaints made about a study protocol’s failure to include a
provision for mental health intervention, even under threat of removal from the
study. Coughlin’s extensive requests to have mental health providers contact
participants were met with backlash from his superiors.”
ISEE concluded: "Dr.
Coughlin’s highly ethical conduct makes him a living legend in modern
environmental epidemiology. His actions should serve as an inspiration and
model for epidemiologists both today and tomorrow.”
Coughlin said his nomination by
the ISEE ethics committee, which includes 23 epidemiologists in countries
around the world, “means a great deal to me as it is clear that they understand
the importance of the efforts we made to ensure that a mental health
professional reached out to research participants who self-reported suicide
ideation.”
The award is presented each year
at the ISEE annual meeting, this year to be held in Seattle in August, and Coughlin said he’ll be
told if he won “sometime before that.”
As Congress debates how to proceed
following the VA’s admissions, which were a direct outgrowth of Coughlin’s
whistleblowing, he added, “It was very difficult at times for me to do what I
did. But I have no regrets.”
Department of Veterans Affairs
Togo
D. West Jr. was the secretary for the U.S.
Department of Veterans Affairs, is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (think tank), and a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank).
Note: George Soros is a
member of the Council on Foreign
Relations (think tank), and the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations.
Open
Society Foundations was a funder for the Atlantic Council of the United
States (think tank).
Eric
K. Shinseki was a director at the Atlantic
Council of the United States
(think tank), is a member of the Council
on Foreign Relations (think tank), and the secretary at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for the Barack Obama administration.
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