From: Beth Daley <bdaley@pogo.org>
Date: Aug 27, 2007 9:21 PM
Subject: re: Follow-up to VA Retaliation
To: fudinj@gmail.com

GREAT letter Jeff! Esp. parts about how screwed up OSC/MSPB are...
_____________________________________________
Beth Daley, Director of Investigations
Project On Government Oversight
666 11th Street, NW, #900
Washington, DC 20001
Phone 202-347-1122 Fax 202-347-1116 Web http://www.pogo.org

Founded in 1981, the Project On Government Oversight is an independent nonprofit which investigates and exposes corruption and other misconduct in order to achieve a more accountable federal government.
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From: "Dr. Jeffrey Fudin" <fudinj@gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, August 27, 2007 5:20 PM
To: megan_murphy@senate.schumer.gov
Subject: Follow-up to VA RetaliationI`ve read some of your emails concerning Dr. Sylvia Lee. Unfortunately, my husband who was a physician out of the Des Moines, Iowa VA Administration, was terminated also for a totally unjustifiable cause. Our attorney successfully proved all charges from the VA erroneous, but then they came up with a false new charge that my husband never had a chance to defend himself. My husband`s entire staff and all his patients petitioned behind him to no avail. The different levels of the VA administration, including the Omaha and Minnesota headquarters and eventually Jim Nicholson`s office simply ignored us. For the first time in my life I realized that government agencies have the power to simply ignore you, the Office of Special Council does the same (one of the most useless government organizations). The Merits System Protection Board excludes physicians. VA physicians basically have nobody to turn to. When a physician is out of a job, he/she is out of financial resources to hire lawyers. Many lawyers do not want to take up cases against the government anyway, and for a good reason. We have witnessed the Des Moines VA participate in outrages cover-ups and outright lies. The director, Donald Cooper lied to senator Grassley. The administration also lied to HEW about the patient load of their VA physicians. My husband had nearly 3000 patients, the VA signed off documents stating a patient load of approximately 1200, year after year. We never bothered to disclose this information because we figured they aren`t going to do anything anyway. If you blow the whistle on the VA administration, they will successfully get rid of you. We try to make ourselves feel better by accepting the fact that government agencies such as the VA are just much more rotten than we thought. The best we can do now is to warn others, and perhaps let other physicians know that when they find a job with the VA, they have just entered a lion`s den. A physician in a VA system is totally powerless and defenseless. I don`t believe a single VA physician has ever successfully tackled the VA system. I have however, written several congressman and senators. I feel that the way to move politicians into doing something is for them to hear more often and from more of us. They have no legal power over the VA either, but perhaps through legislature do something about the rights of a VA physician which is nonexistent at the moment.   MARIA SLOAN

Dear Ms. Murphy,
 
I received the following e-mail from fellow VA employee Joseph Migliorini, indicating your interest surrounding the ongoing "retaliation" problems occurring at the Montrose VA.  "Just to let you know, Senator Schumer's staff has been very helpful to us.  A good point of contact at the Peekskill office is Megan Murphy, megan_murphy@senate.schumer.gov.  She is very concerned and shocked about all that is going on." 
 
If the situation down there is shocking to you, I can assure you although the situation is VERY important and needs to be addressed immediately, it is the very small tip of a very large iceberg!
 
My name is Dr. Jeffrey Fudin.  I am located at the Stratton VA in Albany NY as a doctor of pharmacy; title Clinical Pharmacy Specialist.  Unfortunately, the situation explained to you by Mr. Migliorini is horrible and is rampant throughout the entire VA system...but for sure an issue in the NYS VAs.  Because of retaliation that I suffered for reporting patient abuse where veterans were being experimented on resulting in harm and death, I decided in 2005 to start a group known as the VA Whistleblowers Coalition.  We have over 60 members from coast to coast, mostly physicians, pharmacists, and nurses.  But, we have several police officers from Montrose and Castle Point and another police officer from Iowa City VA, plus other professionals throughout the U.S.  None of the administrators or doctors that were directly involved in patient harm at Albany were held accountable;  almost all were promoted and some were transferred with promotion, especially if they were involved in the harassment.
 
I intend to hold a press conference in the near future and am hopeful that your office will admit to outrage over the situation at Montrose.  Senator Akaka's office has done virtually nothing.  Congressman McNulty has done nothing, and Clinton's office has done nothing!  The Office of Special Counsel is not only worthless, but the agency Director, Scott Bloch, has been brought up on charges of reprisal for whistleblowing by his own Washington D.C. staff...absurd, right?  And, the MSPB (federal court for whistleblowers) is also being scrutinized for not prosecuting offenders, and for not finding in favor of greater than 99% of whistleblower plaintiffs.  EITHER THE SYSTEM IS BROKEN, OR IT'S TRULY INTENDED TO BE A COVERT OPERATION BY THE U.S. GOVERNMENT TO SQUELCH WHISTLEBLOWERS...SURELY IT IS INEFFECTIVE FOR PROTECTING THE VICTIMS!!!  And, the VA-OIG presents a conflict of interest, because the IG's are trained by and work directly with VA administrators.  Our veterans are being hurt and millions of dollars and time is taken from veterans as corrupt administers continue to collect bonuses.  Clinton's answer seems to be, give the VA more money and flaunt her "support" to the press.  We don't buy it!
 
PLEASE visit our website at www.VAWBC.com.  My personal story and the horrors associated with it, including MS-NBC clips and a NY Times article can be viewed at www.vawhistleblower.com.
 
I'd be happy to speak with you.  PLEASE help our colleagues at Montrose!
 
Kind regards,
Dr. Jeffrey Fudin (Jeff)
Executive Director, VAWBC