Sen. Casey Wants To Add Illnesses Beyond Legionnaires’ To VA Reporting Requirements

Sen. Bob Casey Jr. is toughening his proposal for new disclosure standards for Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals, pushing to require they report to outside health agencies each case of several serious illnesses.

The Scranton Democrat's plan in March would have applied only to Legionnaires' disease, a sometimes-fatal form of pneumonia that sickened as many as 21 veterans from February 2011 to November 2012 in the Pittsburgh VA hospital system.

“The goal is basically to hold the VA accountable in ways it hasn't been held accountable to date,” Casey, D-Scranton, told the Tribune-Review on Thursday. “It's unfortunate that we have to specify in a prescriptive way those entities that the VA should report to, but that's what we have to do.”