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UPDATE: U.S. SENATOR SPEAKS OUT TO SAVE
VA
WHISTLEBLOWER'S TBI RESEARCH LAB -- Senator
John Cornyn of Texas says closing Austin research
lab would be a "colossal mistake" and
a "squandered opportunity."
Dr. Robert Van Boven
For more about Dr. Robert Van Boven and his
effort to save VA TBI research in Austin, use the VA Watchdog search
engine... click here...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/sesse
arch.php?q=boven&op=and
We have two pieces of information... first is a
letter from Senator Cornyn to VA Secretary James Peake... second is a news
story.
Letter below:
Your comments accepted at bottom of
page.
-------------------------
To view the letter in a larger size, click on
document...
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News story here...
http://www.statesman.co
m/news/content/news/stories/local/12/18/1218va.html
Story below:
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VA may cut Austin brain-injury
research
Decision on program housed at
UT expected in January.
By Marty Toohey
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
An Austin-based, multimillion-dollar program studying brain injuries among
veterans might be canceled next month.
U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison , R-Texas, and Department of Veterans
Affairs officials confirmed this week that there is talk of shutting down
the Brain Imaging and Recovery Laboratory. Diana Struski, a VA spokeswoman
in Fort Worth, said a VA deputy secretary in Washington will make the
final decision.
 The
program, started by the VA in 2006, is housed at the University of Texas'
J.J. Pickle Research Campus, where the VA rents a state-of-the-art brain
scanner. The program was looking for ways to treat traumatic brain injury,
which has become the signature wound of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
But the program has been on ice since early this year during a fight
between the program director, Robert Van Boven, and his bosses.
Shortly after taking over the program in June 2007, Van Boven said his
bosses had authorized the misuse of program dollars before he arrived and
then ignored his complaints and began engaging in petty retribution. He
has asked for several investigations.
One has been finished, and four are under way that should be finished by
January, Struski said. She said Dr. Michael Kussman, a VA undersecretary
in charge of the organization's health care system, will then decide the
brain-imaging lab's fate, probably in January.
"We can't speculate" on the likelihood the program will be canceled,
Struski said.
 The
possibility of the lab's closure has angered two veterans groups, whose
leaders have written to members of Congress demanding that the program not
be shut down.
Matt Mackowiak, a spokesman for Hutchison, said a regional VA director
called an aide to Hutchison a few weeks ago and raised the possibility of
ending Van Boven's program. Mackowiak said Hutchison will get copies of
the reports when they are finished and will withhold judgment until then.
Hutchison is the ranking Republican on the Senate subcommittee that deals
with veterans affairs. She requested the money for the program.
Van Boven is still being paid but has been suspended from VA work. He says
shutting down the program while leaving his bosses unpunished amounts to
"throwing out the baby and keeping the dirty bath water."
One of the reports Van Boven requested is finished. Conducted by the VA's
Office of the Inspector General, it partially confirmed Van Boven's
complaints. It concluded that VA officials wasted some money, mainly by
misreading the contract with UT. But the dollar amounts it talked about
were in the hundreds of thousands, not the millions that Van Boven
alleged. The report found no evidence of the widespread cronyism Van Boven
says took place. It did find that Van Boven's bosses did not respond to
his complaints.
Struski confirmed that four other investigations are ongoing. Struski said
the VA investigators could recommend closing the lab, but she would not
say what they are looking into or on what grounds they could conclude the
program should be canceled.
Van Boven says one investigation is addressing his claim that the VA
improperly and unsafely tried to restart his brain research in his
absence. He says Central Texas VA administrators are trying in the
meantime to stick him with trumped-up charges, such as insubordination for
organizing a fun run to raise awareness of brain injuries. He said he did
it on his own time after a VA lawyer said doing so was within Van Boven's
rights as an employee.
If the brain-imaging laboratory is closed, the remaining millions of
dollars will be distributed to other VA programs in Texas, Struski said.
She said a likely possibility would be to spend it on post-traumatic
stress disorder research at the VA hospital in Waco.
Two veterans advocacy groups called for Congress to intervene and ensure
that the program's money is not used for other types of research.
"Closure of the (lab) would amount to a terrible injustice for our
veterans," according to a letter to congressional offices from Rick
Weidman, director of government relations for Vietnam Veterans of America,
and Paul Sullivan, executive director of Veterans for Common Sense.
"Conventional brain imaging is not sufficient to detect subtle injuries,"
the letter says.
This is at least the second time Van Boven has been involved in a bitter
fight with an employer. In 2003, he established a private practice in
Virginia, Minn., a town of about 9,000 that owns its own medical center.
Less than two years after arriving, Van Boven began claiming that the
facility was providing inadequate care and safety for its patients.
Medical center officials denied the allegations, according to news reports
at the time. The fight ended with a settlement that paid Van Boven
hundreds of thousands of dollars that the medical center had guaranteed he
would be making. The medical center also paid his legal fees.
The settlement prohibited both sides from divulging specifics of the
disagreement. But Van Boven later sued on the charge the medical center
had defamed him. The medical center paid a $150,000 settlement.
mtoohey@statesman.com ;
445-3673
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posted by Larry Scott
Founder and Editor
VA Watchdog dot Org
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