Archive for the ‘VA Malpractice’ 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 »
Monday, May 24th, 2010
By Bill Sizemore
The Virginian-Pilot
© May 18, 2010
HAMPTON
After the Hampton VA Medical Center denied responsibility, a Chesapeake veteran has sued the emergency-room doctor there who failed to diagnose a stroke that left him permanently disabled.
John Morgan, a Marine veteran, went to the Hampton center Nov. 23, 2008, complaining of slurred speech, unsteady gait and weakness on his left side – what government investigators later described as “classic stroke symptoms.” He was discharged by the physician on duty, Dr. Razaak Eniola.
The next day, he went to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, where he was found to have suffered a stroke and was hospitalized for six days.
A subsequent investigation by the inspector general’s office at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs found the Hampton center at fault in the case. But when Morgan filed an administrative claim for compensation, the VA denied liability on the grounds that Eniola was a contract doctor, not a VA employee.
Full story…
Tags: failure to diagnose, Hampton VA Medical Center, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, VA Medical Malpractice, Veteran
Posted in VA Malpractice, VA Medical Malpractice, VA Reports | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, May 18th, 2010
The government has agreed to pay $350,000 to the family of a Marine combat veteran who committed suicide after what his family alleged was negligent mental-health care at Department of Veterans Affairs facilities in Massachusetts.
Former Marine Reserve Cpl. Jeffrey Lucey hanged himself in the cellar of his family home cellar on June 22, 2004, two weeks after being turned away from the Northampton Veterans Affairs Medical Center, where he had gone for treatment after a combat tour in Iraq.
A spokeswoman for Michael Sullivan, U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts, verified Jan. 15 that both parties have reached a negotiated settlement but noted that the agreement must still be accepted by the court.
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Tags: VA care, VA Hospital, VA Malpractice, wrongful death and negligence
Posted in VA Malpractice | 2 Comments »
Friday, January 29th, 2010
Tags: Clarksburg VA Medical Center, delayed dialysis, improper care at VA Medical Center, improperly documented patient care, Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center, VA Malpractice, VA malpractice claims, VA medical negligence
Posted in VA Malpractice, VA Reports | No Comments »
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
Posted in VA Healthcare Problems, VA Malpractice | No Comments »
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 »
Tuesday, January 12th, 2010
The Government Accountability Office (GAO), after reviewing credentialing, privileging, and performance monitoring procedures at several Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical centers, has called for several areas of improvement among those facilities.
GAO’s interest began when seven out of 180 patients diedâa rate that was far greater than expectedâbetween October 2006 and March 2007 at a VA medical center in Marion, IL. This prompted an investigation by the VA Office of Inspector General (OIG), which later issued a report that identified numerous deficiencies related to credentialing, privileging, and monitoring surgical care.
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Tags: Government Accountability Office, Marion VA Medical Center, VA Medical Malpractice
Posted in VA Malpractice | No Comments »
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
Those opposed to real health care reform are flailing to come up with real, alternative solutions to our current crisis. With all the talk of death panels, government takeovers, and rationing of care, now tort reform has been thrown into the mix.
Yet it will do practically nothing to lower health care costs, and certainly will not fix our broken health care system. However, it will most definitely hurt patients injured through no fault of their own. Seemingly, the effects of legislation on real people have somehow evaporated from the discussion.
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Tags: Five Myths About Medical Negligence, tort reform, VA Healthcare Problems, VA Hospital
Posted in Federal Tort Claims Act, 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
Posted in VA Healthcare Problems, VA Malpractice | No Comments »
