Archive for the ‘VA Healthcare Problems’ Category
Tuesday, June 29th, 2010
A Veterans Affairs Medical Center developed a comprehensive process designed to proactively identify and remedy medical errors. Key elements of the process include widely publicizing the disclosure policy and process throughout the hospital, prompt reporting and investigation of potential errors, full disclosure of investigation results to the patient and/or family, and apology and fair remedy when an error has occurred, including appropriate compensation. The program led to liability claims costs that were the same or lower than those of a comparison group of similar Veterans Affairs hospitals that did not practice full disclosure.
According to recent government surveys:
Between 44,000 and 98,000 people die each year in hospitals because of medical errors [1] while an estimated 40,000 individuals suffer medical harm in the health care system each day…
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Tags: VA health care, VA hospital injuries, VA Malpractice, VA medicine, Veterans administration, Veterans Administration health care, Veterans administration medical malpractice, Veterans hospital, Veterans hospital malpractice
Posted in VA Healthcare Problems, VA Malpractice, VA Medical Malpractice | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010
Two doctors who worked at the Hampton VA Medical Center say powerful narcotics are being over prescribed to veterans there, leaving them addicted while their underlying medical conditions go untreated.
The doctors have warned that the high volume of narcotics may be feeding a pipeline of dangerous drugs that are illegally resold in the community, with potentially fatal results.
Federal authorities are looking into the allegations.
One of the doctors was fired after airing her concerns.
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Tags: Hampton VA Medical Center, narcotics, narcotics being resold in Hampton, veterans addicted to narcotics, veterans narcotics
Posted in VA Healthcare Problems | 1 Comment »
Friday, January 29th, 2010
U.S. Sen. Jim Webb made his first visit Friday to the Hampton VA Medical Center, where he praised the dedication of health care workers but said he is still following the incomplete investigations of many patient complaints.
In the fall, Webb asked the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to examine the quality of care at the Hampton facility after his office had received 149 complaints, including allegations that ranged from abusive patient treatment to wrongful death.
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Tags: 149 complaints against Hamptom Veteran's Affairs Medical Center, doctor failed to diagnose a stroke, Hampton VA Medical Center, improperly maintained "clean rooms", SOARS, System Wide Ongoing Assessment and Review Strategy
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Friday, January 29th, 2010
In a dramatic about-face, the Philadelphia VA Medical Center has acknowledged that its troubled prostate cancer program violated federal radiation rules meant to protect patients from harm.
Just last month, Philadelphia VA officials disputed the finding of a Nuclear Regulatory Commission investigation that the hospital committed eight safety violations in its prostate brachytherapy program.
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Tags: NRC investigation, Nucular Regulatory Commission investigation, Philadephia Veteran's Affairs Medical Center, prostate brachytherapy, prostate brachytherapy program, prostate cancer, prostate radiation injury, rectal radiation injury
Posted in VA Healthcare Problems, VA Malpractice | No Comments »
Monday, January 4th, 2010
Communication breakdowns between two medical departments may have compromised the care of patients being treated in the Veterans Affairs Salt Lake City Health Care System, according to a new report by the VA Office of Inspector General.
But the report, released Monday afternoon, did not substantiate an unidentified complainant’s allegations linking the failures to four patients’ deaths at the VA Medical Center.
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Tags: Veterans Affairs Health Care System, Veterans Affairs Salt Lake City
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Wednesday, December 16th, 2009
In the first outside report on its flawed prostate-cancer program, the Philadelphia VA Medical Center was cited for eight apparent violations in using radioactive materials on nearly 100 veterans, federal inspectors have concluded.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission found that the Philadelphia VA staff failed to evaluate radiation doses or know when to report a mistake, according to the 16-page report obtained yesterday by The Inquirer.
The brachytherapy team, for example, failed to check radiation doses for more than a year because a computer was unplugged from the hospital’s network, the report said.
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Tags: VA Healthcare Problems, VA Medical Malpractice, Veterans Rights
Posted in Uncategorized, VA Healthcare Problems, VA Malpractice | No Comments »
Monday, December 14th, 2009
A new report from the inspector general in the Department of Veterans Affairs finds that the VA Medical Center in Marion, Ill., continues to be plagued by quality management and patient care problems some two years after a suspicious spike in the number of post-surgical patient deaths there.
A 2008 investigation found that at least nine patients died because of surgical mistakes and poor post-surgical care at the VA hospital in Marion, which is in southern Illinois. That report made recommendations to improve conditions at the facility.
The new report finds poor quality management oversight, inconsistencies in the way patient deaths are reported and continuing problems with ensuring patient safety â including the discovery that surgeons were performing procedures they were not authorized to handle.
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Tags: Department of Veterans Affairs, Illionois, VA Hospital, VA Malpractice
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Tuesday, December 8th, 2009
CHICAGO â Serious safety issues continued to plague a southern Illinois Veterans Affairs hospital even after major surgeries were suspended two years ago because of a spike in patient deaths, according to a federal report released Monday.
Surgeons at the VA medical center in Marion, Ill., performed procedures without proper authorization, patient deaths were not assessed adequately and miscommunication between staff members persisted, the Veterans Affairs Department’s inspector general said in the report, which covers the fiscal year that recently ended.
The medical center’s “oversight and reporting structure was fragmented and inconsistent, making it difficult to determine the extent of oversight or the corrective actions taken to improve patient care,” the report said.
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Tags: IL., Illinois Veterans Affairs, Marion, VA medical center
Posted in VA Healthcare Problems | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 8th, 2009
MARION– A new report says the long-scrutinized Marion VA Medical Center continues to come up short on patient care.
The audit by the Veteran’s Affairs inspector general reveals a series of shortcomings from reporting patient deaths to overseeing patient safety. It covers the fiscal year ending in 2009.
The findings are troubling since the hospital has been under the microscope since 2007, when a string of deaths were attributed to poor care. Two resulted in high-priced malpractice settlements.
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Tags: malpractice settlements, Marion VA Medical Center, VA Hosptial, Veteran's Affairs
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Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009
PHILADELPHIA â Six more cases have been found of cancer patients being given incorrect radiation doses at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Philadelphia.
The errors happened in a common surgical procedure to treat prostate cancer. That brings the total to 98 veterans who were given incorrect radiation doses over a six-year period at the hospital. The program had treated 114 cancer patients before it was halted when the problem surfaced in 2008.
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Tags: Cancer, Philadelphia, The Department of Veterans Affairs, VA
Posted in Military Healthcare Problems, VA Healthcare Problems | No Comments »
