Press Releases :: September 22, 2008

Chairman Miller Sends Letter Denouncing Apparent Retribution Against Recent Subcommittee Witness

(Washington, DC) –Rep. Brad Miller, Chairman of the Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee, sent a letter asking the Veterans Affairs Department to provide documents concerning a directive banning a witness at a recent Subcommittee hearing from the premises of the Veterans Affairs Pittsburgh Healthcare System (VAPHS).

Two days after Dr. Janet Stout testified for the Subcommittee, Terry G. Wolfe, the VAPHS Director, banned Dr. Stout from the premises.

"This directive appears to be punishment for Dr. Stout's appearance before this Committee," Rep. Brad Miller, (D-N.C.) and Rep. Dana Rohrbacher, (R-Calif.), wrote.  “This Subcommittee does not tolerate such retaliation by a federal agency against a witness of a Subcommittee hearing.”

Dr. Stout is an expert in the detection, treatment and control of legionella, a bacterium which causes a type of severe pneumonia called Legionnaires’ disease.  In December of 2006, one of the world's leading collections of legionella was destroyed at the VAPHS.  The collection represented the life's work of Dr. Janet Stout and Dr. Victor Yu. 

Dr. Stout and Dr. Yu testified at a Subcommittee hearing on September 9, 2008 investigating the destruction.

For more information, please visit the Committee’s website.  

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