A Democratic House member included a link to donate to her campaign in an email to supporters regarding the deaths at a VA hospital allegedly linked to a secret waiting list.
According to
Buzzfeed, which obtained a copy of the email, Rep. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona sent out the message on Tuesday. A red box with the word "contribute" appeared at the bottom of the note, and clicking that took users to a page where they could donate to her re-election campaign.
Reports say 40 veterans may have died while waiting for appointments at the
VA hospital in Phoenix. There were allegedly two waiting lists at the hospital: a fabricated one to make it appear the hospital was seeing patients in a timely manner, and the actual one, which showed that patients had to wait months to see a doctor.
"If the allegations are true, what happened at the Phoenix VA Medical Center was immoral, unconscionable and, frankly, un-American," Sinema wrote in the email. "It's heartbreaking that up to 40 veterans may have died while waiting for care.
"These are veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, who defended our flag and our freedoms. To manipulate the records to make it appear that our heroes were receiving care while they waited in limbo, their lives hanging in the balance . . . it's too much.
"Three top officials have been placed on administrative leave, but that's not enough. We need a full accounting. We need answers. Something like this can't happen again. That's why I'm asking for your help."
Links to a petition page followed.
Sinema served in the Arizona House from 2005 to 2011 and the Arizona Senate from 2011 to 2012. She then earned the state's 9th District seat in the U.S. House in the 2012 election, and is currently campaigning for re-election this fall.