Update On Dr. Anna Chacko, FAKE Veterans Administration Whistle-blower/Not A North Carolina Resident: Now Congressman Brad Miller AND Senator Richard Burr Are In The Mix

Author's Note:  This post has been updated - with a comment/clarification from Richard Burr's office - and commentary.  Scroll to bottom.

When it comes to journalists, just when I think I've got it all off my chest, and I'll have a few days for the blood pressure to go down, a story goes up somewhere . . . or an e-mail pops into my Inbox . . . and they pull me back in . . .



This was the story (from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review) and the e-mail was from Michael Volpe.

You might remember Michael Volpe.  He has been doggedly following the story of Dr. Anna Chacko, Federal-whistleblower-wannabe from Pennsylvania . . . who recently caught the politically-opportunistic eye of North Carolina Congressman Brad Miller.

As a former-NHSC-provider-burned, I've expressed my opinion on Chacko's grossly-exaggerated credentials as a medical "whistle-blower" here, here and here.

Newspapers and politicians never cease to amaze/frustrate/infuriate me.

In this particular newspaper article, it's not just Brad Miller (Democrat) who has taken the bait.  No.  Now we've got NC Senator Richard Burr (Republican) in on the party too.  And the cause is actually quite noble . . . as it appears funds have been diverted from the care of veterans with brain injuries.

(Of course, anyone who has served in any kind of Federal government position, is not going to be surprised at all that something like this can happen):

Two members of Congress are asking Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki to investigate why $6.3 million intended for research and treatment of traumatic brain injuries was spent without treating any veterans.

A letter to Shinseki from Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., and Rep. Brad Miller, D-N.C., centers on allegations from a former VA physician who says he was forced out of the agency in retaliation for raising questions about money for brain injuries, the "signature injury" of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center reports 10 percent to 20 percent of troops with combat exposure there suffered concussions from roadside bombs.

Burr and Miller agreed Friday to give Shinseki's staff until Aug. 9 to respond to the inquiry.

Now, in-as-much-as this IS a noble cause, soldiers with traumatic brain injuries have been around for some time.  Indeed, you could argue that the funds were able to be diverted from their medical care because government & Congressional oversight of their own programs is so piss-poor. 

Call me cynical, but I'm suspecting that this particular inquiry is conveniently timed (by both the Republican Senator and the Democrat Congressman) to benefit them politically as tides shift (it's so nice to see when gross opportunism crosses party lines).

There are a few things that really bug me about this story.

First, the reporter offhandedly dumps Anna Chacko into the mix:

Van Boven's case appears to parallel that of radiologist Anna Chacko, who says VA officials ousted her from her post at the Pittsburgh VA facility in Oakland after she questioned spending and treatment practices.

As Michael Volpe's research has more-than-established, Anna Chacko has played Brad Miller like a violin.  Her "questioning of spending and treatment practices" amounted to some ugly professional in-fighting over radiological isotopes . . . and "fraud" allegations over an XRay that a colleague approved for a VA employee (who was not a VA patient).  In short, she's raised a whole-lotta hell (using all of the right buzz-words of politically-correct victimization) but there's not much substance to back it up.

Moreover, Anna Chacko appears to have gotten boat-loads of due process prior to her termination . . . and afterwards . . . as her allegations were (actually) investigated and the decision to terminate her was upheld.

(As Volpe notes, much of this is still the subject of litigation between all of the involved/warring parties.)

The second thing that REALLY bugs-the-crap-out-of-me about this article is that Congressman Brad Miller and Senator Richard Burr are falling all over themselves to be an advocate for Dr. Anna Chacko, a physician from Pennsylvannia, but have turned a deaf-ear to North Carolina resident/National Health Service Corps physician-horribly-burned, Dr. Mary Johnson (who has been writing state and Federal lawmakers FOR ALMOST TWELVE YEARS begging for help/an investigation of what was done to her - at the hands of a "non-profit" for saving a newborn's life).

Of course, Dr. Mary "only" reported getting canned for standing up to STOP (and then reporting) bad care.  It wasn't about millions of dollars . . . as "only" a couple-of-hundred-thousand-taxpayer-dollars was poured down the drain when Dr. Johnson was fired - and fellow NHSC provider (we providers HATE that description), Dr. Anderson, later threw up her hands in disgust. 

It really boiled down to just one little girl's life . . . and one doctor's.

And let's be crystal clear that the government that brought the doctor home did not care.

Congressman Miller's website clearly states the party line (that I've heard so many times before when writing members of the Congress/Senate from other states).  And that party line is, if you're not a constituent, you're SOL.

So what is the fricking deal with Anna Chacko?

The third thing-that-bugs-the-crap-out-of-me about this article is the mere mention of Tom Devine, legal director of the Washington-based Government Accountability Project.

I am familiar with Mr. Devine, for all practical purposes a lobbyist/advocate-for-hire, from my past affiliation (long ago renounced) with the Semmelweis Society.

I renounced my affiliation with Semmelweis because, after a leadership coup d'etat several years back, the new "leaders" began to methodically exclude and demoralize some of SW's original members - doctors who sprang from bad experiences in Federal (military & public) service . . . physicians with complicated/long-term/on-going cases (like mine, like Navy Surgeon, Eric Gluck), because our cases were too (1) complicated, (2) old, (3) hard-to-understand, (4) could not be summarized down to a five-second "gotcha" soundbite, etc. 

These physicians were a threat to the new leadership, because they questioned its objectives, plans and methods.

(It's essentially the same kind of BULLSHIT treatment that I got in the Greensboro blogosphere . . . courtesy of noble journalists like John Robinson and Edward-Cone-of-the-Moses-Cone-Healthcare-System-Cones.)

Make no mistake, greed was the underlying motivation here.  Semmelweiss' new leaders were chasing the elusive "jack-pot" justice of Qui-Tam lawsuits . . . and wanted "the right kind" of cases to pimp and showcase to "important" lobbyists like Tom Devine.

Legislating good whistle-blower protection for doctors became a secondary motivation.  And individual advocacy flew out the window.

Folks like me . . . like poor Eric (we'll get to him in a minute) . . . were damaged goods . . . too "angry" . . . or somehow "mentally-disturbed" for sticking to principle and fighting for so long and so hard.  We needed to subvert our own interests to serve the "greater good" . . . blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

What made it so hard for me to stomach was that these were doctors who had purportedly all had been through the same kinds of ordeals . . . treating other doctors like garbage.

It was amoral . . . despicable.

Now at the time this all went down, I was working the graveyard shift in the ED at LeBonheur in Memphis . . . trying to pay down some bills . . . and hanging onto my life -  and all hope - for dear life.  Moreover, I was getting enough garbage from Roch & company in the blogosphere (the "usual suspects" couldn't ask Bob Morrison or Steven Eblin a single objective question, but they could bash me all to hell).  I didn't need that kind of crap from Jim Murtagh & his minions.

So I very abruptly severed ties with Semmelweis . . . instructing the group to take all mention of me/my case off their website.

It turned out to be a smart move.  The organization has since dissolved into warring factions.  It's a mess.  My understanding is that lawsuits are flying between the members.  As it turns out that crazy-ole-Dr. Mary was actually pretty savvy in the end.

Meanwhile, I've continued to plug along in the blogosphere . . . pursuing my own case . . . never giving up . . . like the little Engine that could.

Which brings me to the fourth reason this newspaper article really bugged-the-crap-out-of-me.  And that is the aforementioned case of Navy Surgeon, Lt. Commander Eric Gluck.

Eric has fought & struggled for years to get his life and career back on track - after it was derailed by the malicious handiwork of former Navy Surgeon General, Vice Admiral Donald Caldwell Arthur BA, MA, MD, PhD, JD, MC, MC, USN (retired).

By all accounts I've heard (from a variety of sources), Eric was a conscientious/gifted surgeon (think about how much money goes into the training of a military physician) who could have spent the last decade serving our country . .  taking care of injured soldiers in Iraq or Afghanistan . . . during a time when surgical training was/is at a premium.

Instead, he was scuttled out of the Navy on a pile of bad-faith, trumped-up crap that was DETERMINED TO BE CRAP by medical peer review (Eric had complained about conditions at his hospital and it made him a target).  Moreover, another Navy Surgeon has actually testified UNDER OATH (which, in stark contrast to civilian life, is REALLY supposed to mean something) that, when came to advocating for Eric, he was ORDERED to keep his mouth shut.

(When you think about that, it's kind of like two very brave colleagues who once wrote letters to JCAHO for me . . . as it turned out, letters that made Randolph Hospital run from its own SLAPP-suit like a scared little girl.)

But despite this hard EVIDENCE, Eric has clung-for-dear-life to protocol and chains of command and proper procedure (as I once did), yet for all of that honorable behavior, languishes at the bottom of the black-hole that passes for Congressional oversight of the military and public service.

(BUT HEY, BRING ON OBAMACARE - WHICH GIVES THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT EXPONENTIALLY MORE TO DO/POLICE!?!)

The reason I emphasized all of Vice Admiral Arthur's degrees is because (like the recently disbarred/demoted Air Force Col. Michael D. Murphy) at least three of them (the MA, PhD and JD) are FAKE.

In other words, Vice (key word, VICE) Admiral Admiral Arthur's credentials to pass judgment on colleagues/underlings like Eric Gluck ranked right up there with Cone-owned FP, Mick Irwins', credentials as "the head of Neonatology at Randolph Hospital".

But Eric's life and career are in the crapper . . . and Vice Admiral Arthur has retired with full/very generous military benefits.

Much like former NHSC physician, Mary Johnson . . . fired for saving a baby's life . . .  had to hit the road and often-times slept in roach-motels . . . while "right people" Bob Morrison and Steven Eblin got very big, very phat raises and Dr. Irwin went on to become Chief of Staff.

So I'm kinda wondering.  Where were Eric's Congressional representatives (he's from Connecticut, so that would include Joe Lieberman) while all of this was going on?

Where were mine?

Hell, where are Brad Miller and Richard Burr and Howard Coble and all the rest now?  Because I've got a case - with some Federal jurisdiction - that does not have a statute of limitations.

(In terms of "change", do you think I have a snow-ball's-chance-in-hell-with-Ripley-Rand-on-the-job?)

Maybe it's the same place they all were when it came to the oversight of Walter Reed . . . or what was going on at Fort Hood before Nidal Malik slaughtered 13 people and wounded 30.

I spoke to Eric this afternoon on the phone.  On top of everything else, he was recently diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. He sounded about as low as another human being could sound.  It broke my heart.

The hits just keep coming for real whistle-blowers.  Meanwhile the FAKE Anna Chacko . . . the whistle-blower with ZERO credentials . . . gets all the print-love.  I just don't get it.

This post is being copied to the reporter who wrote the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review article that birthed it with a simple request to check his facts . . .

. . . and, on the off-chance he's not just like John Robinson (whose newspaper gives more coverage to burned puppies than it does burned doctors), get beyond the soundbite.

I'm not holding my breath.

Meanwhile, instead of backing Anna Chacko, Washington lobbyist, Tom Devine ought to see the REAL PATTERN HERE, and try picking up the damned phone and calling Dr. Eric Gluck . . . or Dr. Mary Johnson . . . Federal whistle-blowers hosed.

He'd get an earful . . . and a trainload of ammunition for potential Congressional testimony that would slam-dunk the need for any legislation he'd like to pass.

It would be nice if Devine did it while Eric can still stand - to receive the medal that he deserves for fighting the good fight alone . . . abandoned by the county he literally gave his life away to serve.

Evening (Barely Out-of-the-Gate) Update:  Michael Volpe reports that, after making inquiries, he has heard from Senator Richard Burr.  I quote (it's in red because Burr is a Repbulican):

The “emerging pattern” that Rep. Miller referenced in his comments to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review were made independently of the specific issues raised jointly by Sen. Burr and Rep. Miller in the letter to Gen. Shinseki.

I strongly suggest you take up your concerns with Rep. Miller’s staff as they may have more insight into the reasoning for Rep. Miller’s comments.

It's called political distance.  In short (from whistle-blowing's cheap seats), it sure looks like the back-tracking from championing Chacko's version of events has already begun.

MORE INSIGHT, SENATOR?  I've got TWELVE YEARS OF INSIGHT in to the way that politcians work.  And, as a North Carolina doctor in public service . . . begging for oversight . . . and help . . . let me just tell you that taking up my "concerns" with one of your kind during that time (which would include trying to get the attention of your opponent in the upcoming N.C. Senate race . . . N.C. Secretary of State, Elaine Marshall) . . . was like spitting into the wind of a desolate wilderness.

Ignored correspondence.  Unanswered e-mails and phone messages.  Half-assed enforcement when it did come . . . but mostly bureaucrats diving under their desks.

That is the sad/sorry truth of Congressional "representation" in North Carolina!  And I'm not supposed to be angry about that.

Tell me, Senator.  Tell me Congressman.  WHERE does Dr. Van Boven live?  I've been trying to get help - real help - since 1998.  I've been online since 2004 and blogging since 2005.

Dr. Van Boven didn't even begin work at the VA until 2007.

Yes, our soldiers deserve the very best of care and anyone who interferes with that needs to be FRIED.  But I in NO WAY deserved what my government allowed a "non-profit" to dish out.

It should NEVER have happened . . . much less been allowed to stand and fester for twelve years.

Late Evening Update:

Michael Volpe has more.

He also linked this post.