Heart surgeries were paused at the Department of Veterans Affairs medical center in Aurora, Colorado, for more than a year in 2022 and 2023 as a result of changes made by leaders who cultivated a “culture of fear” at the hospital, the VA Office of Inspector General has found.
Two reports released Monday by the VA’s top watchdog found that the facility paused cardiac surgeries from June to July 2022 and again from September 2022 to October 2023. Leadership told their regional directors of the first pause but did not inform them or the VA’s Central Office in Washington, D.C., of the second, longer suspension.
The VA OIG said the pauses did not directly contribute to patient harm, but the toxic work environment, explored in a separate investigation, jeopardized patient safety.
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“Senior leaders failed to utilize High-Reliability Organization principles, undermined the stability and psychological safety of service leaders and staff, and created a culture of fear,” Dr. John Daigh, the VA assistant inspector general for health care inspections, wrote in a report.
According to the investigations, five adult critical nurse practitioners who worked in the hospital’s surgical intensive care unit left in April 2022 as a result of changes made to their jobs by leadership.
Following those departures, the hospital paused heart surgeries for a month, resuming them…
