VA Fails To Protect Medical Records Of Tim Walz, JD Vance. Are Your Records Secure?
In a severe breach of privacy, more than a dozen Veterans Health Administration (VHA) employees and one contractor accessed the confidential medical records of vice presidential nominees JD Vance and Tim Walz, violating federal health privacy laws.
This isn’t just an isolated incident; it’s a glaring failure by the VA to protect the personal information of those it serves. If high-profile veterans like Vance and Walz can have their privacy violated, what does this mean for everyday veterans relying on the VA for healthcare?
This breach should not only spark outrage but also fuel a movement to demand better protections and accountability from the VA. While agency officials feign zero tolerance about the breach, a brief view of agency news over the past five years shows VA cannot maintain security over our most private information.
VA Breach and Response
According to USA Today, the unauthorized access involved VA employees—including a physician and a contractor—who used government computers to view the records for extended periods.
A VA source confirmed that some of the employees admitted to accessing the records out of “curiosity” due to the public scrutiny surrounding the two candidates during the presidential campaign. These employees not only violated privacy laws but also undermined the trust veterans place in the VA to safeguard their personal information.
In response to the revelations, VA spokesperson Terrence Hayes strongly condemned the actions, stating, “We take the privacy of the Veterans we serve very seriously and have strict policies in place to protect their records. Any attempt to improperly access Veteran records by VA personnel is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.”
This clear violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is not just about curiosity—it’s a breach of federal law, and those responsible should be held accountable.
VA Secretary Denis McDonough echoed the condemnation in a memo to employees, stating, “Veteran information should only be accessed when necessary to accomplish officially authorized and assigned duties. Viewing a Veteran’s records out of curiosity or concern – or for any purpose that is not directly related to officially authorized and assigned duties – is strictly prohibited.”
While these statements are necessary, they must be backed by meaningful action to ensure this breach isn’t repeated.
Is VA Serious About Protecting Veterans’ Privacy?
Over the past five years, VA has repeatedly been the center of scandals and news stories exposing the agency’s failure to protect veterans’ medical records and other privacy breaches.
- “VA Data Breach Exposes Personal Information of 46,000 Veterans” – Military.com (2020)
This article discusses a significant VA cybersecurity breach that compromised the personal data of 46,000 veterans. Hackers accessed VA health systems and attempted to divert funds. The VA responded by offering veterans free credit monitoring and reviewing its security protocols. Source: Military.com - “Health Data of Millions of Veterans Potentially Leaked in Cyberattack” – Stars and Stripes (2024)
In this report, a breach involving Change Healthcare, a VA vendor, exposed the private health information of millions of veterans. The article highlights the widespread risk of data leaks due to third-party service providers working with the VA. Source: Stars and Stripes - “Rising Privacy Violations at Veterans’ Medical Facilities” – ProPublica
ProPublica reports on a series of privacy violations where VA employees accessed medical records without authorization. The incidents include employees viewing records out of curiosity, leading to a broader concern about the VA’s internal security practices. Source: ProPublica - “How Secure Is Veterans’ Data? VA’s Response to Lawmakers” – MOAA (2021)
This article explores the VA’s repeated cybersecurity challenges, including outdated IT systems and recurring breaches. The report includes insights from VA officials about ongoing efforts to improve security following several high-profile data exposures. Source: MOAA
If VA’s policies and penalties do not deter its employees and one contractor from unlawfully accessing the records of Walz and Vance, what do you think certain VA employees might do against a dissenting veteran?
Had the agency implemented appropriate systems to address prior breaches, does it not stand to reason such systems should have prevented this breach?
Demand for Action and Accountability
This breach raises a fundamental question: Can veterans trust the VA to protect their most sensitive information?
The VA is legally obligated to ensure that medical records are accessed only for official, authorized purposes. When veterans’ privacy is violated in this way, it erodes confidence in the entire system. Veterans have the right to know who has accessed their records and why, and they must take steps to protect themselves from similar breaches.
Veterans should not accept vague reassurances from their federal servants. They must demand real accountability and transparency.
While the VA Inspector General and the Justice Department are possibly investigating this breach, veterans can take their own steps to ensure their privacy is respected.
Actionable Steps
- File Privacy Complaints: Veterans should file formal complaints with the VA and the VA Office of the Inspector General (OIG) if they are concerned about the privacy of their own records. Request a detailed account of who has accessed your records and for what purpose.
- Demand Congressional Oversight: Contact your representatives and demand that they hold hearings to investigate the VA’s privacy protocols. This breach is not just a technical failure—it’s a violation of veterans’ rights. Send a Congressional Inquiry request to each of your US Senators and respective US Representative.
- Join Veteran Advocacy Organizations: By joining groups that advocate for stronger privacy protections within the VA, veterans can amplify their voice and demand systemic changes to the way the VA handles sensitive information. If you cannot find a major organization you trust, join a smaller organization that focuses on medical rights of veterans.
- Request Record Audits: Veterans can request an audit of their medical records to determine if unauthorized access has occurred. This not only protects the individual veteran but also adds pressure to the VA to tighten its security protocols.
- FOIA Requests: Submit a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to obtain details about VA policies regarding employee access to medical records and whether this is a more widespread issue than reported.
Conclusion
This breach of JD Vance and Tim Walz’s medical records is an alarming reminder of the VA’s vulnerability in safeguarding veterans’ private information. Veterans deserve better—better protection, better accountability, and better transparency.
The time for reassurances and apologies is over. Veterans must act now to demand their rights and push for reforms that ensure their privacy is respected.
If the VA cannot protect the privacy of its most high-profile veterans, what does that say about the rest of us? It’s time to take action and hold the VA accountable.
VHA.. It’s a instrument of political and class warfare. It’s a redistribution apparatus with sole purpose to perpetuate itself. It’s not a functional healthcare system. It’s a threat to health, human safety, and well-being. It will be a threat to national security if they keep playing their fuckin games, lying, and denying care.
That’s nice to know that a group of unelected people in our executive (at VHA) are out of sight, out of mind, and not enforcing heathcare as a human right on a federal level. Who can do this at VHA? Anyone! That’s right! Some administrator having a bad day or doesn’t think you’re worth the resources? Goodbye! Off you go around in around in circles forever or you can just leave for all they give a fuck. The mental health phonies do want you to stay because that’s the only thing that justifies that scam. It’s a fraudulent organization.
The government sees the VA primarily as a jobs program..NOT a heathcare system which they could care less about it’s actual functionality. That’s easy to see by their actions after Vietnam. So that means it’s an iron rice bowl and the people who work there and maintaining the system are priority number one. That means those people working there have a lot of leeway when it comes to how they behave towards the veteran. They don’t have to render care. They don’t have to uphold your civil or constitutional rights. They don’t have to worry much about customer satisfaction. The gap between “customer satisfaction” and successful lawsuits tells the tale. Decade after decade certain problems remain or resurface because the federal courts aren’t performing their proper function in our democracy.
They don’t wanna go to a community care model, they say because they can’t do quality control effectively, that’s not so.. and they don’t seem to understand that quality of care is more of an issue at VHA than anywhere else. It’s a magnet for all sorts of people who wouldn’t otherwise be visited by veterans. Ok? They hire anyone and refuse to fire people. The aversion to transition away from the broken system is all about fears that they’ll actually have to start shelling out some money for heathcare. They’ll stick to the denial of care model to save money.
If you have severe pain from disk herniations, first you gotta convince them that your pain is really that severe. They can end it all right there if they want to and they might as well because there’s no pot of gold at the end of that rainbow. All they gonna do is send yo to physical therapy and the chiropractor which will just cause more pain. They will not give actual pain medication or do surgery. You will lose it if you keep going around in the circles they send you around in. They’ll treat the resulting car crash that happens though, when it gets so bad that you lose ability to drive but must get food, if you don’t die. Mind you they’ll take no responsibility for any of this..
If they don’t like you or see you as a threat, whether or not you are, they insert coded language into your notes. They don’t even have to flag you. And the next doctor or VA employee will continue on with it. It’s like blood in the water in there.
i’m starting to think the honor system might not be the best way to safeguard our private medical records from the “curiosity” of VHA employees.
Only when the federal courts start to play their role in our democracy will this shit stop. If you can only sue for malpractice, they have no incentive to behave any other way. You got constitutional and civil rights violations happening and we can’t even tell it there’s a federal judiciary. That’s not a flawed democracy, that’s a failed democracy.
George
WE the USA. ARE NOT a DEMOCRACY. we are a REPUBLIC using a democratic process we NEVER WANT TO BE A DEMOCRACY. that is worse than a demon-crat
Ok well by demonizing the other side like that, you’re basically saying that the USA should be a one party state so.. you’re part of the problem. It’s called a democracy because we vote for our leaders as opposed to an autocracy. Not sure why you can’t just comment on the post instead of trying to split hairs and cause problems.
So now this is important because of Vance and Waltz, For over two years now where a VHA employee, the department head of IT decided he would look at my personnel and confidential medical communications with my doctor and he apparently did not like my conversation with my doctor so he alone decided to bloc k my access to VHA secure messaging system so now I have no way of talking with my doctor etc except by snail mail. The majority of time they never receive my letters. Wrote and filed complaints withe the VHA Director,
the Patient Advocate, the VA OIG, the Federal AG, the Senate and Congressman for my area, the VHA Office of Veteran Experience, even the Secretary of the Veterans Administration, let us not the letters to the Senate Veterans Committee, Jon Tester. To this date no one of the above has even replied to any oi these 57 letters and complaints except for one Jon Tester whom I accidentally met at a coffee shop in Butte, MT where I asked him why he did not respond to my letters asking him for his help, SIX DAYS LATER DID GET A LETTER FROM JON TESTER STATING ON OFFICIAL SENATE LETTERHEAD WITH HIS SIGNATURE on it stating. ” if I the veteran ever communicates with him ,his staff or any of his offices he will address those contacts as get this. “HARASSMENT and take suc h action against me. So why the attention now because of these two yahoos, running for vice presidential offices. what make them important and not that of a disabled COMBAT VETERAN????
You’re lucky he didn’t beat your ass. If you blew up my email and then approached me in person I’d invite you outside and pull a gun on you. Wouldn’t even call the cops. Tell you if I ever see you again, this is going in your asshole.🍌👉🍩
what the hell are you talking about are you ill???? or a demon-crat
Hahaha! You, sir, are an “asshat”. Let’s not throw around explosive language and not expect to be investigated. 😉