Clinical trials have stalled at Pittsburgh VA, reports say
According to media reports, several clinical trials, including ones to treat cancer, have stalled at the Pittsburgh VA.
Congressman Chris Deluzio, a veteran, is now calling on lawmakers in Washington, D.C., to address the concerns of veterans.
With thousands of veterans in the Pittsburgh region, Pennsylvania's 17th Congressional District Democratic congressman says reports of stalling clinical cancer trials are unacceptable.
"You're going to hurt veterans," he said at a Friday press conference.
The Trump administration has stood firm in wanting to cut down on what it views as bureaucratic bloat and waste. According to Deluzio, this is going to trickle down and harm veterans.
Naval veteran Curtis Lloyd said he moved to the region for the care provided by the Pittsburgh VA system.
"I'm terrified that we don't even know how many hundreds of veterans right now could not be receiving lifesaving care," Lloyd said.
VA Secretary Doug Collins has called out reports of VA cuts stalling clinical trials as hit pieces. He said the VA is looking at eliminating inefficiencies to better serve veterans.
Congressman Deluzio is pleading for Republicans to join him in support of not allowing the VA to slash positions and services.
"I think the American people, across the political spectrum, expect our government to pay the cost of war, and caring for veterans is the cost of war," Deluzio said.
The Department of Veterans Affairs press secretary provided the following statement.
"Imagine how much better off Veterans would be if Rep. Deluzio cared as much about fixing the department as he does about protecting its broken bureaucracy. Here are the facts:
VA health care has been on the Government Accountability Office's high-risk list for more than a decade, and GAO says VA faces "system-wide challenges in overseeing patient safety and access to care, hiring critical staff, and meeting future infrastructure needs."
Under Secretary Collins, VA is working hard to fix these and other issues. Unfortunately, many in the media, government union bosses and some in Congress are fighting to keep in place the broken status quo. Our message to Veterans is simple: Despite major opposition from those who don't want to change a thing at VA, we will reform the department to make it work better for Veterans, families, caregivers and survivors.
No VA research trials have been canceled. The head-and-neck cancer clinical trial in Pittsburgh is scheduled to start recruiting Veteran patients this month.
It's important to note that research trials test experimental, unproven treatments. Regardless of if a Veteran participates in a trial or not, they continue to receive normal health care services.
Meanwhile, VA is conducting a comprehensive assessment of all its ongoing research initiatives to evaluate their impact on Veteran health care. To ensure all mission-critical VA research efforts continue during this time, VA on March 7 extended for 90 days the terms of all research employees whose appointments are due to expire."
