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Medical Malpractice At The Va-indianapolis

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Many veterans and widows have appealed offsets of FTCA awards-

If you go to the BVA web site:

http://www.index.va.gov/search/va/bva.html

and put offset , or Section 1151 or FTCA into the search feature - you will see what I mean.

http://www.va.gov/vetapp06/files4/0625305.txt

vet got $500,000 under FTCA

"1. In August 1999, the RO granted the veteran entitlement to

compensation benefits under 38 U.S.C.A. § 1151 for residuals

of excision of a meningioma, to include a skull defect;

seizures; headaches; scars of the left thigh, left forearm

and left frontal area; right upper extremity ataxia; right

lower extremity ataxia; impotence; major depression and

worsening of pre-existing diabetes.

2. Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2672, the veteran also obtained a

settlement of an FTCA claim in the amount of $500,000.00

based on the same disability."

widow got $12,759.51 for wrongful death (boy that is an awful award)

from http://www.va.gov/vetapp93/files1/9307537.txt

and

" By a June 2000 rating decision, the RO granted the veteran

disability compensation benefits under 38 U.S.C.A. § 1151.

The compensation was for a December 1998 injury at the

Atlanta VAMC consisting of damage to the veteran's vagus

nerve, with paralysis of the true left vocal cord.

In November 2000, the veteran filed a FTCA claim, due to the

December 1998 injury. The United States settled the claim in

February 2002 in the amount of $100,000. The evidence of

record establishes that he received $100,000 in full

settlement of his civil claim. "

from : http://www.va.gov/vetapp06/files4/0620914.txt

What I meant is -this takes a lot of time -but one can get some idea of how much VA is willing to pay for some disabilities-in FTCA awards-

however-it depends on many factors, the age of the vet, their employability, the degree of disability, and also how persistent the vet or their lawyer was---also it depends on any state cap that limits out of court settlements.

Also veterans have gotten in many cases very large awards in the federal courts-much higher than anything VA offered- but they took a chance-

a bird in hand is better then 2 in a bush-

a federal court decision could rule against a claim that the VA wanted to settle on or bring an award that -by that time- is eaten up by legal fees.

A FTCA claimant has to have a realistic idea -which a good lawyer can predict-of how much their FTCA claim is worth.

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  • 2 weeks later...
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I am a 35 year old veteran who is a rape survivor from active duty in the USAF. I filed charges and the rapist was given an other than honorable discharge lieu of court martial. It was explained to me that..."the rape wasn't violent enough for him to get any real jail time." This happened in 1993. I served my enlistment and was medically seperated from the AF. I had two surgeries while in. I filed for my VA benefits for PTSD, Depression, endometriosis, and migraines. I was rated at service connected for all, but the PTSD was the only compensatable at 10%. I use the VA here in Indianpolis for my healthcare. In Nov. 2003 I had an unneeded surgery due to a nursing. The nurse looked at the wrong lab results and verbally reported them to a nurse practitioner who verbally reported them to the doctor. I had some complications after the surgery. The pain medication stopped my bowels from moving and I was in extreme pain. Upon speaking with the doctor on call, she said some things that didn't make sense to me. I am a lab tech and I understood her medical talk. I questioned her, but she gave me generic answers, but after a laxative, supository, at home enima and a visit to the ER for a more powerful enima, my bowels started moving again. I followed up the next day with the women's coordinator at the VA and she was unable to pull my lab results up. They showed as pending. That means the results were not complete or certified. I knew that the only other time I had been seen at the VA in 2003 was back in Feb. when I had had a miscarriage. The women's coordinator let me know that the hospital administrator and the chief of ambulatory care had been made aware of the situation and would be contacting me. When the hospital admistrator called I asked when their investigation would be complete so that I could know what happened and he said he didn't know. I explained that their are protocals in place for reporting and investigating such errors. He said he would get back to me the next week. That week I had a conference call with the admistrator, chief of ambulatory care and the women's coordinator and was told..."Upon their investigation and speaking with the nurse involved that she looked under lab results not pending results and she reported out the test result from Feb. of that year." The hospital admistrator asked me what they could do to make this right. I told him that I understood what he meant, but I wasn't prepared to talk about that. The women's coordinator noticed the change in my tone and voice pattern and asked if I needed someone to talk to. I said yes, but not at the VA. She set me up with someone at the Vet center. I spoke again to the hospital administrator and asked what mechanism they were going to put into place so that this couldn't happen to someone else. I explained that all other major hospitals have a safety step in their computer to where if a nurse/tech looks at lab results they can only see current admissions or a 7 day range. If they want to look at something older they have to physically type in a date range. This would have saved me. He explained that the VA in Indy is part of a national system and that no changes would be made. I inquired about nurse/tech retraining to show them how easily this mistake could be made. They catagorized this error as a human error. That is true, but they have a system failure, because it is to easy for the error to occur. I told him that maybe I need someone else to handle this for me, because I couldn't handle it myself. He then offered me 15,000 dollars to no get an attorney involved. That was the last converstion I had with him. Now, when you sue the government you have to give them 180 days notice and then you go into negotioations with the VA. We did this and after two years the offer they made me in writing was 15,000 dollars. I declined it. Offers went back and forth, all of which I declined. There are many more ugly details, but to get to the point... We just had a settlement conference with a Federal Magistrate and a U.S. attorney is handling the case for the VA. They wanted to come down from their last written offer because they want an offset from any money I received from the VA from the time of the malpractice to the time I get anything for the malpractice. Also, they want to hold my disability payments until the monthly amount equals the malpractice amount. Now, the money I get from the VA monthly is for my service connected disability that I came out of the AF with that I didn't have when I went in and the tort claim is for medical malpractice. They are two seperate issues, but the VA says they shouldn't have to pay twice. If the malpractice had occured at a hospital other than the VA, the VA couldn't come and say we are going to rduce your award by what we have already given you for your service conncted disability and hold your benefits until the monthly VA amount equals what you get from this hospital. The message they are sending is that if you serve your country and you come out with a service connected disability and apply and are approved for VA benefits then the VA gets a pass on anything negligent they might do to you. Has anyone else come up against this? If I win my case it will set a precident that the VA be held accountable, but the U.S. attorney already let us know the VA will appeal it. If we lose, the precident will be set in favor of the VA. This happened to me in 2003 and it has been 3 years. Our court date is in Nov. 2007 and the judge said we'd get a ruling in 2008. If the VA appeals the decision, I might not be done with this unitl 2009. There is much more to my story, but the details are very ugly and private, but what infuriates me so much is that if the VA had taken my suggestions about upgrading the computers (a software issue not hardware), retraing their staff I probably wouldn't have sued, but they have tried to make me feel as though I am only in it for money, which is not true or I would have immediately sued and not given any time researching what changes they could make to better their system and make it safer for our Veterans. I want to make it so that no other Veteran goes through this. I consider myself a pretty with it patient, especially since I worked in health care, and if this could happen to me, what are they possibly doing to other Veterans who never question their doctors. Also, I had the surgery on a Tuesday, my complications started on Wednesday night and I followed up on Thursday. The VA new their was a problem, they didn't ever notify me. If the complications didn't arrise, I probably would have never of known. If anyone has any advice for me of how to fight the United States of America, PLEASE help. We are all we've got and we need to stick together.
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Dear sistervet,

I am very sorry to hear that you were mistreated at the VAMC! Please keep me posted on your health as well as your progress with your case. There are many female veterans who are expericing problems at the various VA hospitals. We need to advocate for ourselves more. Did you contact the VA's Women's Director in Washington D.C.? I dont know if it will help, any, but I would give it a try. If you email me I will give you her address and phone number. I would give it to you now, but I have to look it up. There is this organization called Women Organizing Women. Give them a call, they may be able to help you.

The director has been ill but you may be able to leave a message. Email me and I will give you the info or you can go on line Women Organizing Women.com

Stay strong

B)

Rita

Edited by ladypoetry85
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  • 5 weeks later...

I just got a 4 page email where my attorney is mad at me for trying to get my computer change idea done. He told me I could continue as long as I didn't contact the VA. I went to my Congressmen, Senators, and all the service organizations. They all inquired on my behalf and it has made the VA mad. He says that because of my actions the VA's attitude has changed towards me and that is why they are taking such a hard line. I've been trying to do something for the betterment of all veterans by getting this change done and it also helps me as a rape survivor to not sit back and put my future and the outcome of this in the hands of a bunch of men. I mean no offense to any of you men out there, but I think you understand my point. What I am doing different now that I couldn't do when I was raped in the USAF is that I am not keeping quiet and I am trying to help others, that will help me. I now just have to figure out how to deal with my attorney because I am stuck with him. With PTSD, Depression, and Anxiety my frustration and emotions are sometimes seen as anger and aggression. I am working on this, but the things I have to talk about make me emotional and then I get frustrated that I am not heard and I speak more quickly and breathe less and I am perceived as angry. But truth be told, I am angry. I am angry that I am going through this with the VA when they've already admitted the negligence and I am angry that anyone especially our government (the VA) would retaliate against a veteran for trying to make their system better. I'm just having a really hard time and all of you on this forum have saved my life and I really mean that. Thanks! :lol:

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