House panel launches investigation into VA hospital on Long Island

The House Committee on Veterans Affairs is investigating Northport VA Medical Center on Long Island, according to The New York Times.

The hospital has been under scrutiny since May, when NYT reported the hospital's five operating rooms had been closed since February after sand-size black particles began falling form air ducts.

The closing of the hospital's ORs will be among the issues investigated by the House panel. House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) addressed the issue in a July 29 letter to VA Secretary Robert A. McDonald. Rep. Miller wrote that the most troubling part of the situation was that hospital management "reportedly became aware of the problem in mid-February yet took no effort to notify the public or Congress until after numerous media reports emerged."

Rep. Miller wrote the letter prior to a veteran committing suicide in the hospital's parking lot in late August. The FBI is investigating that incident.

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