VA Scandal Puts Chief's Career in Jeopardy

Veterans Affairs Secretary Erick Shinseki is due to testify before a Senate panel Thursday regarding allegations that VA health clinics covered up delays in treatment.

Those delays are being blamed for at least 40 deaths at the VA Medical Center in Phoenix, Arizona.
 
The situation has some lawmakers calling for Shinseki's resignation.

"If Mr. Shinseki can't come here and tell Congress how exactly he's going to change that culture there, I think we need to find somebody who's willing to go in and shake up the Veteran's Affairs so that their number one, two and third priority is taking care of the men and women who serve this country," Rep. Mike Rogers, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, told the CBS's "Face the Nation."

The allegations are just the latest that call into question the quality of veterans' health care.

Vermont widow Amy Miner said better treatment could have saved her husband's life. Kryn Miner was killed during a violent outburst thought to be caused by Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. 

"If we can't take care of our veterans, we shouldn't be sending them off to war," Amy Miner said. "It just doesn't make sense because they're coming back and this is the result."

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, who used to serve as the VA deputy chief, said it's time for the department to do better for America's veterans.

"If this, in fact, or any variation of this occurred, all the way along the chain accountability is going to have to be upheld here," Reuters quoted Hagel. "Because we can never let this kind of outrage, if all of this is true, stand in this country."