--- title: Top VA Healthcare Official Hands Resigns description: Undersecretary for Health Dr. Robert Petzel has stepped down a day after being grilled in Congress amid uproar over alleged malfeasance and cover-ups at the Department of Veterans Affairs. Petzel said in September that he planned to retire this year canonical: https://time.com/103304/va-official-resigns/ author: Denver Nicks article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-05-16T19:24:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T07:53:51.633Z article:section: Politics og:title: Top VA Healthcare Official Hands Resigns og:description: Undersecretary for Health Dr. Robert Petzel has stepped down a day after being grilled in Congress amid uproar over alleged malfeasance and cover-ups at the Department of Veterans Affairs. Petzel said in September that he planned to retire this year og:url: https://time.com/103304/va-official-resigns/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt64b5b2504c1b30e4/69868fed169ab04d282795ae/robert-petzal-va.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4000 og:image:height: 2250 og:image:alt: Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki Testifies Before Senate Robert Petzal og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Top VA Healthcare Official Hands Resigns twitter:description: Undersecretary for Health Dr. Robert Petzel has stepped down a day after being grilled in Congress amid uproar over alleged malfeasance and cover-ups at the Department of Veterans Affairs. Petzel said in September that he planned to retire this year twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt64b5b2504c1b30e4/69868fed169ab04d282795ae/robert-petzal-va.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Top Veterans Affairs Health Care Official Resigns  by [Denver Nicks](https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/)  ## Denver Nicks May 16, 2014 7:24 PM UTC  Eric Shinseki, U.S. secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA), left, and Robert Petzel, U.S. VA undersecretary for health, swear in to a Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee hearing in Washington, May 15, 2014. Eric Shinseki, U.S. secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA), left, and Robert Petzel, U.S. VA undersecretary for health, swear in to a Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee hearing in Washington, May 15, 2014.Andrew Harrer—Bloomberg/Getty Images  by [Denver Nicks](https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/)  ## Denver Nicks May 16, 2014 7:24 PM UTC _Updated 7:18 p.m. ET_ Secretary for Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki [announced](http://www.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=2542) Friday he accepted the resignation of the official in charge of the VA’s healthcare services. Undersecretary for Health Dr. Robert Petzel offered his resignation a day after sitting aside Shinseki while both men were grilled on Capitol Hill. Shinseki and Petzel faced questions Thursday about long-standing inefficiencies in the VA’s healthcare system, as well as allegations that VA officials covered up evidence of delays at a Phoenix, Arizona, clinic that may have led to the deaths of 40 veterans. “As we know from the Veteran community, most Veterans are satisfied with the quality of their VA health care, but we must do more to improve timely access to that care,” Shinseki said in a Friday statement. “I thank Dr. Petzel for his four decades of service to Veterans.” [Petzel](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/top-va-health-official-resigns-under-fire) said in September that he planned to retire this year, according to the Associated Press. “As the President has said, America has a sacred trust with the men and women who have served our country in uniform, and he is committed to doing all we can to ensure our veterans have access to timely, quality health care,” the White House said in a statement. “He has asked Secretary Shinseki to conduct a review of Veterans Health Administration practices and procedures at its facilities nationwide to ensure better access to care, and that review is ongoing.” _This post was updated with a statement from the White House._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/103304/va-official-resigns/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/103304/va-official-resigns/"},"headline":"Top Veterans Affairs Health Care Official Resigns","datePublished":"2014-05-16T19:24:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T07:53:51.633Z","description":"Undersecretary for Health Dr. Robert Petzel has stepped down a day after being grilled in Congress amid uproar over alleged malfeasance and cover-ups at the Department of Veterans Affairs. 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