Pauline DeWenter, a scheduling clerk at the Phoenix VA, told CNN that "'Deceased' notes on files were removed to make statistics look better," and that "at least seven times since last October, records that showed that veterans died while waiting for care ... were physically altered, or written over, by someone else." 

Records were changed, DeWenter said, to hide the fact that patients had died during lengthy waits to schedule care appointments at the hospital. In other words, she said the VA was in the business of "bringing them back to life," to avoid looking worse than it already did.

CNN reported in April that as many as many as 40 veterans had died waiting for care, and in late May the VA copped to long wait times, extending the limit to 30 days from 14. On Monday, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel released a report that confirmed extensive misconduct and dysfunction at VA facilities.