Archive for the ‘VA Healthcare Problems’ Category
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.
Click here to continute reading…
Tags: IL., Illinois Veterans Affairs, Marion, VA medical center
Posted in VA Healthcare Problems | 1 Comment »
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.
Click here to continue reading…
Tags: malpractice settlements, Marion VA Medical Center, VA Hosptial, Veteran's Affairs
Posted in VA Healthcare Problems | 1 Comment »
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.
Click here to view the entire article.
Tags: Cancer, Philadelphia, The Department of Veterans Affairs, VA
Posted in Military Healthcare Problems, VA Healthcare Problems | No Comments »
Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009
The VA Inspector General (IG) issued his report regarding an email sent by a VA psychologist last year that appeared to discourage health care staff from diagnosing veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The IG investigation, requested by U.S. Senator Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI), Chairman of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, found that while the e-mail was poorly written and inappropriate, it did not result in a change in diagnoses at that VA facility.
Click here to read entire report.
Tags: VA, VA Misdiagnoses
Posted in VA Healthcare Problems | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 1st, 2009
Sen. Jim Webb is asking the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to examine the quality of health care services being provided veterans at the Hampton VA Medical Center.
In a letter Monday to VA Secretary Eric Shinseki, Webb wrote that since January 2007, his staff has received 149 complaints about the Hampton center from patients or their spouses. The allegations range from abusive patient treatment to wrongful death.
The Virginia Democrat also cited two critical reviews of the center over the past year by the VA inspector general and several news reports that raised concerns about the level of care provided there.
Click here to read the full article from The Virginian-Pilot
Tags: Investigation of Vet Hospital, Senator Webb, VA
Posted in VA Healthcare Problems | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 1st, 2009
With a vicious and relentless cancer spreading through his body, this father of a large blended and loving family, a Viet Nam vet and owner of Manningâs Garden Center is doing what he can to enjoy the time that remains. The road through Manningâs cancer minefield has been one full of health care potholes, detours, dead-ends and the blinding fog of bureaucracy that has served only to minimize what little joy the family has held onto since his cancer first revealed itself almost five months ago.
Click here to read entire article.
Tags: Cancer, Hospital Delays
Posted in VA Healthcare Problems | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 1st, 2009
The inspector general of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has found the Hampton VA Medical Center at fault after a doctor there failed to diagnose a Chesapeake veteran’s stroke, leaving him permanently disabled.
The investigation also found that the vet’s medical record contained lab results from another patient and that the medical center staff turned a deaf ear to his repeated complaints in the weeks afterward.
Click here to read full article from The Virginian-Pilot
Tags: Stroke, VA Hospital, Vet
Posted in Military Healthcare Problems, VA Healthcare Problems | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 1st, 2009
(AP) – Several factors including staffing shortages and a lack of communication may have contributed to a higher-than-expected mortality rate among critically ill patients at a Kentucky veterans hospital.
The consulting firm that reviewed the Veterans Affairs Medical Center on Cooper Drive in Lexington found instances of emergency triage performed by a desk clerk; nurses not being able to readily identify or contact on-call residents; and doctors’ orders not being followed, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported.
The high mortality rate among patients treated in the hospital’s intensive care unit prompted local and regional VA officials to call in the McLean, Va.,-based Booz Allen Hamilton consulting firm to investigate, the newspaper reported….
Click here to continue reading article.
Tags: Lexington, Mortality Rate, VA Healthcare Problems
Posted in VA Healthcare Problems | No Comments »
Monday, November 30th, 2009
Thousands of veterans in South Florida may have been exposed to hepatitis and HIV because of contaminated equipment after getting colonoscopies at the Miami Veterans Affairs Healthcare System.
Click here to read entire article.
Posted in VA Healthcare Problems | No Comments »
