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Malpractice- Veterans-FTCA- 1151


Berta

Question

A reporter here in NY is preparing a story on why the malpractice payouts regarding VA FTCA settlements have risen so much over the past few years.

He was specifically interested in FTCA cases that occurred due to improper health care in New York state VAMCs.

The picture is far bigger than that.......

Before I give out his contact info here....has anyone here won a FTCA case against VA in NY, except for me?

Has anyone here won,instead,  a Section 1151 case here in NY? I only know of 2 people locally.

Do we have any guest readers out there who have succeeded in any of the above, willing to join and tell us about it (or contact the reporter?)

Has anyone here gone to the Federal District Court to win a FTCA case, in NY?

Does anyone here have a FTCA issue pending with VA counsel that arose from an incident at a NY VAMC?

Also , this was an important post that might not have gotten the attention it needs:

Pwrslm is willing to look into the fact that we have incompetent C & P examiners, who cause valid claims to be denied,and in my opinion, since they base their exams after a reading of the medical records (if in fact they actually do that) that there is a nexus in some cases between a lousy C & P exam and downright malpractice.

I still believe the C & P exam they did early this year on my 1151 HBP claim was done by someone at my RO who had no medical background whatsoever.

I raised this C & P issue that pwrslm posted on above ,with the reporter but he is focusing, at this time, solely on malpractice issues....which I feel he should expand beyond NY State because all internet news stories on VA malpractice  go all over the net anyhow if one searches for them.

 

 

 

 

 

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I would like to comment, Berta, on a malpractice at VA which I believe is common called "Late Diagnosis and sometimes NO diagnosis".   Im not recommending this law firm, but it does look like they specialize in just these kinds of cases, so a late diagnosis or no diagnosis is a type of malpractice. 
http://www.latediagnosis.com/

I was a patient at my VAMC for at least 6 years.  Then, once I had "chest pain" and my wife called VA.  They said they were full, and for me to go to another hospital, and VA would pay the bill.  This private hospital diagnosed my "real" problem in 24 hours, when VA could not do it in 6 years:  I had sleep apnea and it was causing multiple symptoms, including heart symptoms.  (When the heart does not get enough oxygen at night, the heart responds, often with heart murmurs and symptoms)    Of course, this is "late diagnosis"..why did they not diagnose this years before that???   I have irrepairable damage done to my heart, because of this late diagnosis.  

That is not the only example, either.  Three years ago, I went to my VAMC with knee pain, and asked for physical therapy.  I got the PT (after fighting with VA for a year), and the PT said I had a leg length discrepency.  (One leg longer than the other.  I had an In service leg fracture).  So, I finally got an appointment with an ortho doc.  He said the PT was "nuts" that I did not have a leg length discrepency, that the only way to tell that was with a special x ray where a yardstick is taped to the table and then they take an xray of both legs at once.  I said, "Ok, lets schedule it."   

    The  VA ortho doc said, "The VA does not do this kind of xray."  So, he ordered a lesser xray of just one leg.  While I was getting the xray, the xray tech remarked, that she regurarly performs xrays to determine leg length discrepencies.  

    So, I was lied to by the doc, had knee pain and did not know whether or not this was related to leg length issue or not.  

    Finally, I signed up for telehealth about 3 months ago.  The telehealth nurse was very thorough.  I told him of my leg length problem, and he advised I see the patient advocate.  The patient advocte contacted my PCP, who ordered this special x ray.  Sure enough, about 3 years later..there it is..right on the x ray...

I have one leg longer than the other, which "beats up" my knees, which causes pain, which limited my mobility, and led to weight gain.  Now, since I have a BMI over 35, I dont know if I can even get a TKR that I need.  (My BMI was about 30-32  three years ago.)  

    The bottom line is that I have 2 problems that are far worse because it took the VA a combined 9 years to diagnose what was wrong with me, which should have been done in days or even hours.  

    Within just the past few days, I learned of a local Vet who went to my VAMC and they told him he had a "pulled muscle".  Three months later, they said he had "migraines", and prescribed pain pills.  Another 6 months later, and he was diagnosed with late stage brain cancer and has since passed away.   Why did VA docs not run the tests to check for cancer months and months ago???  He could still be alive had they done that.  

     That is 3 times, and that is just my limited experience.  I think it happens much, much more than that.  

Edited by broncovet
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I do too.

I replied to your post on the gas station that was collecting donations for the widow of the brain cancer veteran.

Not every situation that looks like malpractice really is.That is why IMOs/IMEs for these types of claims are so important.

Then again I am sure many vets or survivors with valid malpractice claims never file them.

And the fact that VA can hide their true malpractice statistics from the public means we never will know how much this happens.

1151 awards are not public ,although they might be remanded awards  from the BVA, and could be DIC awards to a survivor for wrongful death.

I already rattled off how they hide FTCA settlements. Dr. Bash and I discussed this many times over the years.

VA saves lives every day. I am 100% sure that they do. And malpractice can happen at any hospital...I think Dr Bash mentioned a malpractice case against John Hopkins on our last show this past week.

The worse malpractice case is to me, like the worse CUE claim....it is the ones that are never filed.

I mentioned on the show Friday, and think I forgot to mention it in my reply regarding the widow...when a vet or survivor requests the veterans medical records for a potebntial FTCA/1151 case, they must NOT breathe a word about 1151 or FTCA. Because when the RO gets winds of FTCA or 1151 that is when the VA employed MF steps in ( MF mysterious force who removes critical stuff from the C file).

In my case I found what they removed ,7 years later. Too late to use for my FTCA so I used it for my AO IHD claim.

:rolleyes:

 

 

Edited by Berta
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I think for most of us, the type of VA malpractice most common is not so serious, it's more of an everyday variety....intentional and willful refusal to diagnose less serious medical issues.  They treat the symptoms and not the disease. 

For example, say a Vet has been experiencing pain in the middle of their body, let's say it's the illiac crests.  And let's say he's been dealing with it for 3-4 years, and it's slowly getting worse.  Now, for sake of conversation, said Vet filed a claim for secondary to low back, knees, feet, and ankle. At C&P exam, it's noted painful and limited ROM of hip joints...but no DX.  Then, said Vet returns to PCP, who also notes painful and reduced ROM, and refers Vet to PT. After 3 PT sessions, therapist notes no improvement and recommends consult with physiatrist. 

Physiatrist does full work up, is concerned that symptoms present don't match common issues that present with pain in illiac crests. Refers to pain management. Vet goes, is seen by very nice Dr. at the ASU. She injects Vet at both SI joints, to see if that helps Vet.  Nearly 2 weeks since ASU visit, pain has returned to previous levels.

Multiple visits to various med types, and no diagnosis.  While not outright malpractice, not exactly good practice either.  So...I'm not any worse for wear, but sure feels like I'm getting run through the grinder and passed on to the next Dr., and so on and so forth.

Maybe it's just me.

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"I think for most of us, the type of VA malpractice most common is not so serious, it's more of an everyday variety....intentional and willful refusal to diagnose less serious medical issues.  They treat the symptoms and not the disease."

That's how they killed my husband....imtentional and willful refusal to diagnose  documented symptoms of what eventually became VERY serious medical issues.

Of course we didn't know how serious they were because they kept that well hidden from him, and when he suddenly collapsed in our barn and died as I administered CPR, and the coroner said it was IHD, I was stunned that any vet who was getting VA health care could die from heart disease that VA provided no diagnosis and treatment for.

It was no easy for me to even read the medical records as I had no cardio background then, but when I started to study heart disease, I filed a SF 95 right away. FTCA settlement as well as Sec 1151 for IHD and CVA,  IHD CUE award , and AO IHD direct SC death award.

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oops I forgot ...and AO DMII death award, due to additional  malpracticed issue, fully treatable in his lifetime.

And I won the malpracticed HBP CUE last year. His malpracticed HBP was the cause of his malpracticed TIAs and 100% P & T stroke.

I learned that much malpractice starts out with misdiagnosis early on, or no diagnosis at all or wrong meds, in spite of VA med rec documentation to warrant it, and then it will have a snowball affect and  if it is not stopped in time, it will cause additional disability

or death.

 

Edited by Berta
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Our entire medical system changes...frequently..due to malpractice cases.  Mostly, these changes are good, when it forces Docs to discontiue doing something that is very harmful.  

For example, I had a knee arthroscope more than a decade ago.  The doctor came in with a marker pen.  

He asks me, "Is this the knee which hurts?"  I said yes.  He puts a big RED Yes on the painfull knee.  

Then he writes "No" on the other knee.  

I am sure this is because another doc operated on the wrong knee.  You see, when the doctor directly faces the patient the doctors left would be closest to the patients right.  So "left" and "right" are frequently inverted.  And, when the doc gets there and the patient is already sedated and knocked out, he wont say anything about, "you are doing the wrong knee".  So, while the patient is alert the doc comes in and writes yes on the correct knee he will be operating on.  If there is a mistake on the chart somewhere, made by a nurse entry, a previous doc, or whatever, this should be fixed by this simple procedure.  No matter what happens, whether the patient is asleep or in an awkward postion, etc., the doctor simply does not operate on the knee that says "NO".  If the patient directly faces the doctor, then the right and left are reversed.  However, if the patient faces away from the doc, then they are the same as the docs.  It can be confusing enough that they needed to make certain the correct knee is operated on, and they implemented this procedure, so the doc would not get sued for operating on the wrong knee.  Remember, the doc may have 10 surgeries that day, some on left some on right.  And, who ever wrote the last entry on the chart may or may not have been correct.   So, if the tech who comes in and "preps" the knee, and preps the wrong knee, it wont be too big of a deal if the doc catches it.  Often they clean it thoroughly, shave it, and apply some sort of betadine, or betadine type antiseptic.  But the doc wants to know for sure if the tech prepped the wrong knee.  

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