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More accountability at VA

The Veterans Affairs Department has proposed rules to make it easier for veterans to link their diagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder to their military service and become eligible for disability benefits.

It’s a praiseworthy move, although it has taken months to get to this point and the change still won’t take effect until some time next year — all while PTSD rates among veterans soar.

This snail’s-pace approach, unfortunately, is typical of VA. However, in light of other recent news, it’s just the tip of a much larger iceberg:

• The department likely faces lawsuits after revealing earlier this year that at least three of its medical facilities have infected an untold number of veterans with HIV or hepatitis B and C by using improperly sterilized colonoscopy equipment.

• More than 1,800 Persian Gulf War veterans — many of whom are not sick at all — mistakenly were mailed letters in August from VA telling them they have Lou Gehrig’s disease. A “computer coding error” is blamed.

President Barack Obama and VA Secretary Eric Shinseki have spoken of their desire to create a “21st-century VA” and to bring greater responsiveness to what many veterans have long decried as a deeply entrenched and unfeeling bureaucracy.

But so far, the 21st-century VA looks depressingly similar to the 20th-century VA — and too many veterans continue to suffer for it.

These episodes reflect the daunting scope of the long-term challenge facing Shinseki. In the short term, he must get to the root of these issues, and tell veterans what’s being done to fix them.

Then he must see to it that the problems are indeed fixed — and that those found to be responsible are held accountable.