Overview

• Veterans Affairs eliminated references to politics, marital status, national origin and other non-federal-law traits from its medical staff bylaws, allowing staff to decline care based on those characteristics.
• The rule changes follow President Trump’s January 30 executive order on gender ideology under which the VA has also ceased most gender-affirming care and banned related terminology in clinical settings.
• VA press secretary Peter Kasperowicz described the revisions as a procedural formality to ensure alignment with federal law without specifying which statutes mandate the adjustments.
• Internal sources report the changes were imposed without consulting VA doctors, potentially conflicting with accreditation standards set by the Joint Commission.
• Medical ethicists and veterans’ advocates warn the policy risks discriminatory refusals for female, LGBTQ+ and rural veterans, leading the American Medical Association to call for staff approval of bylaw amendments under Joint Commission rules.