Hello Again Help Needed Va Claim

[littlejuniata]

Hello: I was here before conderning a VA malpractice claim where they did a valve replacement and cut my cartoid artery resulting in significant blood loss before they noticed it. I have been in contact with the VA attorney and they are reviewing the case, (couple months) Saturday I received a letter from that attorney saying that the doctor who made the error is not a VA employee! What should I do?? Thanks in advance

[littlejuniata]

Hello: I was here before conderning a VA malpractice claim where they did a valve replacement and cut my cartoid artery resulting in significant blood loss before they noticed it. I have been in contact with the VA attorney and they are reviewing the case, (couple months) Saturday I received a letter from that attorney saying that the doctor who made the error is not a VA employee! What should I do?? Thanks in advance

Forgot to check email notification, Sorry

[Pete53]

Was it done at a VA Hospital?

[Berta]

Did they say not an employee any longer? or not ever an employee?

Have you googled the doctor on the net?

Dr. Michael Swango- if someone filed a FTCA claim on him- might get the same kind of statement from the GC that you got-

Dr. Swango is not employed by the VA ---any longer- he is in prison and had been charged with potentially causing the deaths of veterans in a VAMC as well as others:

"Michael Swango, suspected of administering lethal injections to as many as 35 people, pleaded guilty to deliberately causing 4 of those deaths. Swango has admitted killing 3 men in a VA hospital on NY's Long Island and murdering a young woman with an injection of potassium while an intern at Ohio State University Hospital. He received 3 consecutive sentences of life without parole, avoiding the death penalty in the US and extradition to Zimbabwe. Swango's arrest was the result of the work of forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden. Called by prosecutors to determine the cause of death of Swango's alleged victims in the US and Zimbabwe, Dr. Baden showed these deaths were not natural.

The warning signs should have been obvious: A residency program abruptly curtailed. A criminal conviction that led to prison time. A previous employer reluctant to provide background information because of fear of being sued. But the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Sioux Falls, Iowa, in July 1992, and a year later at Stony Brook Health Sciences Center in Northport, NY, both welcomed Michael Swango to residency programs. Had they checked, either hospital would have known Swango was accused of killing several patients, and trying to kill others by injecting them with poison and as a paramedic, he was found guilty of lacing coworkers donuts with arsenic."

http://www.karisable.com/skazswangp.htm

[littlejuniata]

Wording of the Va atty letter. The firm (school) is under contract to provide cardiac surgery to VA, but it is not part of the federal goeernment and its employees are not covered by the Federal Tort Claims Act. You should be aware that because this doctor are not VA employees, your administrative claim is not a claim against them

[littlejuniata]

Thanks for the replys Berta and John, yes it was done at a VA hospital, by a surgeon who is all over the internet. I posted this before but hit upload instead of reply, slow learner I guess? sorry

[jbasser]

If that is the case, These folks pay Malpractive insurance. you should go after them outside the VA. ALso check with an attorney to see what your rights are. The VA may still be responsible.

Edited November 5, 2007 by jbasser