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Women veterans testify to delays, retraumatization under VA; panel hears account of a fatal treatment failure
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Summary
Multiple witnesses gave firsthand accounts of women veterans' delayed or inadequate care, with a family case highlighted describing the death of a female veteran after repeated treatment failures at VA facilities.
Female veterans and advocates told a House Veterans' Affairs subcommittee that delays in referrals and gaps in trauma‑informed care inside VA facilities have left many women underserved and, in some cases, re‑traumatized.
Dallas Knight, founder of Operation Juliet and a combat Army veteran, told the subcommittee that she and hundreds of women veterans have faced months‑long waits for specialty referrals and inconsistent access to female clinicians and trauma‑informed treatment. "Female veterans are not invisible. We are not dramatic or broken. We are warriors, leaders, and we are asking boldly, urgently for a system that sees us, hears us, and serves us with dignity," Knight said.
Nut graf: Witnesses described repeated administrative and clinical failures that they say particularly affect women veterans — from lacking female clinicians for women‑specific care to being asked to retell traumatic experiences without sufficient clinical support — and presented a case of a veteran who died after repeated care failures.
Knight recounted the case of Lanessa Van Ferk, born Feb. 21, 1989, an Army MP sergeant who, Knight said, repeatedly sought help and suffered alleged mistreatment inside a VA inpatient treatment facility; Knight said Van Ferk died April 30, 2022, after what Knight described as a sequence of denied, delayed, and inadequate care. Knight asked lawmakers to read written submissions from nearly 600 women veterans whose accounts she provided to the committee.
Other witnesses described obstacles women veterans face when community care is used: Christina Keenan, legislative director at the Veterans of Foreign Wars, told members she experienced delayed payments for a community mammogram and lengthy billing disputes with VA contractors that created financial and emotional strain. Keenan said she had to call VA and the community provider multiple times when a $700 mammogram bill was not paid for months, and she said poor record sharing between providers sometimes led to painful, incorrect administrative inquiries.
Witnesses called for clearer pathways for Military Sexual Trauma (MST) survivors and for the VA to ensure that community clinicians who treat veterans receive standardized training in military cultural competency and trauma‑informed care. Dr. Megan Mobbs said the Mission Act was intended to expand access for specialty care and that flexibility in choice of provider is important for women veterans, noting that a majority of women prefer female clinicians for women‑specific care.
Ending: Lawmakers did not adopt new policy during the hearing but were urged to press the VA to implement standardized training and care pathways for women veterans, strengthen referral timelines, and prioritize better record sharing and coordination so patients are not forced to relive trauma repeatedly.
