Veterans Affairs Medical Centers

 

VA Locations

• Facilities by State

VAMC – Tips for helping during your stay

• Speak Up – Help Avoid Mistakes in Your Surgery

VA Doctors. Nurses and Staff Reprimanded. Jailed or have criminal records

• Dayton VA Clinic: New report out about dirty dentist at Dayton VA clinic
• Dayton VAMC Dentist Under Investigation Named – Dr. Pemberton
• Dr. Mark Abel negligence Philadelphia VAMC: Oral surgeon sued after patient suffers stroke
• Hampton VAMC – Va. doctor in malpractice suit has history of violations: Dr. David Ostman
• Lexington VAMC – Nurse pleads guilty to veteran death
• NRC sanctions Pa. doc in flawed cancer treatments: Dr. Gary Kao
• Outrage at sex offenders working at veterans hospital
• Update: VA Doctor Punished – Dr. Jose Veizaga-Mendez
• Veterans Heatlh Care: VA Medical Center: Possible Privacy Violation

VAMC – Veterans Affairs Facilities Reported for Rude Behavior toward Veterans & their families

• St. Louis-area Veterans Affairs facilities: John Cochran VA – Jefferson Barracks VA medical centers

VA Hospitals with Known Contamination, Unsanitary Conditions, Investigated or Malpractice Suits

• Atlanta, GA VAMC – Feds rap Ga. VA clinics for excessive wait times
• Cochran VAMC – Complaints of unsanitary conditions resurface at Cochran VA Medical Center
• Cochran VAMC – Risk of infaction "unlikely" in VA surgery investigation
• Cochran VAMC – Veterans Call For Shutdown Of VA Medical Center In St. Louis
• Dayton VAMC – VA dental service chief aware dentist failed to sterilize tools
• Fort Wayne Indiana VAMC – Local V-A Hospital Probed Following Patient Deaths
• G.V. "Sonny" Montgomery VAMC – Hospital is cited for staff issue – Inspection shows personnel shortages
• G.V. "Sonny" Montgomery Veterans Affairs Medical Center – VA plagued by probes of deaths, improper records access, personnel shortages
• Hampton VAMC – Report: Vet on death bed ejected by Hampton VA
• Hampton VAMC – Va. doctor in malpractice suit has history of violations
• James A. Haley VAMC: VA Inspectors recommend changes at James A. Haley VA Hospital
• Los Angeles VAMC – Five More Reports of Avastin Injections Causing Blindness
• Marion VA Medical Center – Changes may be made at VA after complaints
• Miami VAMC – More war veterans at risk of HIV infection after VA hospital error
• Murfreesboro & Nashville VAMC – Report critical of VA centers
• Pittsburg VAMC – VA moves patients, cites concerns at Pa. hospital
• St. Louis VAMC – VA Halts Surgeries at St. Louis Hospital
• Study Finds Drop in Deadly V.A. Hospital Infections
• Syracuse VA Medical Center's malpractice claims total $2 million over 19 years
• VA hospitals in Tennessee, Georgia, Missouri, Ohio and Florida: Substandard Hygiene Practices At Some VA Hospitals
• VA launches investigation Privacy violations after death at issue

VAMC MIAMI, FLORIDA

• VAMC MIAMI: Lawmakers blast ongoing problems at Miami VA

Veterans Customer Satisfaction Program – St. Louis & Kansas City Regions

Senator wants feedback on services at veterans hospital The Veterans Customer Satisfaction Program asks veterans how long they waited to be seen, whether they were treated with respect and if facilities were clean. Veterans also are asked to suggest ways to improve care and to name employees who provided outstanding service.

Lawsuits VAMC - War Widow Blames VA Neglect for Her Husband's Suicide

Neglect and unreasonable demands from the Veterans Administration caused another Iraq war veteran to kill himself, his widow claims in Federal Court. She says that despite a doctor's "clear diagnosis" of post-traumatic stress disorder, from roadside bombs, including one that killed 93 people, the VA refused to admit he suffered from PTSD, with excuses such as "the diagnosis 'does not specify which Diagnostic and Statistical Manual was used'"; and that he "'failed to provide dates of the incidents or names of any casualties.'"

Tracy Eiswert says her husband Scott suffered substandard care from the VA hospital in Mountain Home, Tenn., before he killed himself in 2008. He was 31. She survives, with their two young children.

After his death, the VA reversed its decision, finding that Scott had been entitled to service-connected benefits for PTSD. Two psychiatric experts who analyzed Scott's medical records concluded that the VA was negligent in diagnosing and treating Scott's PTSD and gave him substandard medical care, which contributed to his premature death, according to his widow's complaint.

Finally, in April this year, the Department of Veterans Affairs denied Tracy Eiswert's claim for compensation and gave her 6 months to file a claim in Federal Court.

Eiswert and her children seek damages for medical malpractice, wrongful death, negligent supervision, pain and suffering and loss of consortium.

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Lawsuits VAMC: $17.5M for ex-Marine for stroke after VA surgery

An ex-Marine disabled from a stroke that followed dental surgery at a Veterans Administration Medical Center in Philadelphia has been awarded $17.5 million.

Lawyers for 53-year-old Christopher Ellison say his blood pressure dropped sharply several times while having eight teeth removed in 2007.

A federal judge Wednesday found Dr. Mark Abel negligent in not stopping the surgery.

Ellison suffered a stroke and crashed his car as he drove home alone. He did not get to a hospital in time for post-stroke therapy, which sometimes prevents permanent damage.

Ellison has serious brain damage and needs full-time care at his Bridgeport home.

The Source

VAMC - Veterans at Risk: Five More Reports of Avastin Injections Causing Blindness

Five more patients who were being treated with the drug Avastin for eye disease have been blinded, according to one of the patients and medical professionals.

The latest cases occurred last month at the Veterans Affairs medical center in Los Angeles. Late Thursday, the Department of Veterans Affairs confirmed that the problem had occurred and said that an investigation into the matter was continuing.

“Our deepest sympathy goes out to the veterans affected by the Avastin eye injections,” it said in a statement.

The recent incidents could lead doctors and patients to use the far more expensive Lucentis instead of Avastin. In its statement, Veterans Affairs said that its Los Angeles medical center had suspended use of Avastin for macular degeneration on Aug. 15 and was now buying Lucentis to resume therapy for the 30 to 40 treatments it administers a week.

The Source

Lawsuits VAMC: Veterans Bitterly Disappointed by Obama

"Instead of actually serving veterans, the V.A. and the Obama administration have callously decided to prolong the proceedings."

At the core of the Ninth Circuit's opinion was the outrageous number of suicides among veterans. "On an average day, 18 veterans of our nation's armed forces take their own lives. Of those, roughly one quarter are enrolled with the Department of Veterans Affairs health care system. Among all veterans enrolled in the V.A. system, an additional 1000 attempt suicide each month. Although the V.A. is obligated to provide veterans mental health services, many veterans with depression or post traumatic stress disorder are forced to wait weeks for mental health referrals and are given no opportunity to request or demonstrate their need for expedited care." The court stated,

"The V.A.'s unchecked incompetence has gone on long enough. No more veterans should be compelled to agonize or perish while the government fails to perform its obligations."

This is another bitter disappointment from our administration that does not even have a discernable political advantage. Perhaps the First Lady, who along with Jill Biden created "Joining Forces" to encourage Americans to take action to serve our military families should have a talk with her husband. Because no military family will thrive or even function when a parent, sibling, or child is suffering from war's trauma and is unable to obtain meaningful mental health care.

The Source

Lawsuits VAMC: Dad, brother of Navy veteran sue VA over his suicide

From July 2007 to July 2008, 21 veterans in the Spokane VA service area killed themselves, including 14 who’d had contact with the medical center, according to Department of Veterans Affairs records.

Senescall, who had a history of mental health problems, sought help from the medical center’s behavioral health unit before returning to his Spokane home and hanging himself.

Steve and Jake Senescall have filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington, seeking damages from the federal government for alleged negligence by the VA and for the pain and suffering they endured as a result of Senescall’s death.

A psychiatrist failed to offer Senescall treatment, counseling or medication, the lawsuit says, but instead “chastised Lucas for missing three mental health appointments in the prior three years.”

In May, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the Department of Veterans Affairs to overhaul its mental health care system nationally in response to a lawsuit filed by veterans groups.

The Source

Lawsuits VAMC: Family blames Veterans Affairs for man's death

The United States of America, through the Department of Veterans Affairs, Beckley Veterans Hospital, undertook to be the deceased Robert Bailey's medical professional care provider and failed to exercise that degree of care, skill and learning required or expected of a reasonable prudent health care provider in the profession or class to which the health care providers at the Beckley Veterans Hospital belong acting in the same or similar circumstances," the lawsuit said.

"Such failure proximately caused deceased, Robert L. Bailey, to suffer a delay in treatment of cancer, pain and suffering, loss of opportunities, loss of enjoyment of life, and eventually his death."

The delay in treatment also resulted in a loss of opportunity for a cure, his son's suit alleges.


The Source

LAWSUITS: First VA colonoscopy case goes to trial after Miami vet contracted hepatitis C

The Source

A Coral Gables veteran who filed a $30 million medical malpractice lawsuit charging that an improper colonoscopy at the Miami Veterans’ Administration hospital gave him life-threatening hepatitis C heads to Miami federal court Monday in the first of what could be dozens of similar trials.

More than 11,000 U.S. veterans received colonoscopies with improperly cleaned equipment at VA hospitals in Miami, Murfreesboro, Tenn., and Augusta, Ga., between 2004 and 2009.

Of the veterans who had the procedure at the three facilities, five have tested positive for HIV, 25 for hepatitis C and eight for hepatitis B. In Miami, 11 additional suits charging emotional distress have been settled out of court for undisclosed amounts, the U.S. Attorney’s office said. Nine malpractice suits have been filed in Tennessee. Officials in Georgia couldn’t say how many have been filed there. None has gone to trial until now.

Miami Assistant U.S. Attorney Lawrence Rosen, who’s defending the VA, declined to comment on the case. Court documents he filed in the case acknowledge the VA “breached” a “duty of reasonable care” with the vets by using improperly cleaned equipment, but deny the equipment caused the health problems.