A good start at reforming the Veterans Administration

In the three and a half years since news broke of a major scandal at the Department of Veterans' Affairs, the public has heard a depressing story of dysfunction, pettiness, and malfeasance at the heart of the VA health system.

Employees manipulated their computer scheduling system to make it look like veterans were being served in a timely fashion, for which the staff was then able to collect bonuses. Veterans, meanwhile, waited months and years without being able to see a doctor. Some died as a result.

But the sting of that scandal was only one of many. There were plenty more to come from the vipers' nest that was the VA. Benefit applications from troops returning from war were being hoarded and unprocessed, whistleblowers faced retaliation, staff stole money, and others committed felonies and kept their jobs.

At some VA facilities, prescription abuses were rampant. At others, elderly patients were neglected. At still others, administrators covered up infectious outbreaks. Physicians performed unnecessary procedures or pretended to perform procedures that were in fact never done, so they could improve their image with faked productivity metrics.

No one was fired for cooking the scheduling books, even though this misconduct had harmed veterans. Former Secretary Robert McDonald, whom President Barack Obama had brought in to fix the problem, added insult to injury by misleading the public on this matter, representing as if he had fired many employees responsible.