YOUR WATCHDOG

Local VA paid $1.6M for wrongful deaths

James Pilcher
CIN

Who was Varna D. Harvey? And how did he come to die at the Veterans Administration Medical Center here in Cincinnati six years ago?

As it turns out, the mystery behind the nearly anonymous Vietnam veteran is the closest to a public story that can be found among the 10 wrongful death settlements at the VA hospital in Corryville between 2001 and 2012.

All told, the local hospital paid nearly $1.6 million in claims during that span, including $75,000 to the unnamed wife of Harvey in 2011. The case is in records obtained by the California-based Center for Investigative Reporting and provided to The Enquirer as part of an ongoing investigation surrounding the Department of Veterans Affairs. Nationally, the CIR reported in April that the VA paid out more than 1,000 wrongful death settlements for more than $200 million between 2001 and 2012.

The VA has come under increased criticism over allegations that administrators of at least 22 individual hospitals across the country falsified records keeping track of treatment wait times. The VA standard is a wait time of no more than 14 days to get an appointment. Some critics have said that several veterans have died awaiting care; Congress and the White House have both launched investigations.

The CIR records indicate that the two Cleveland VA hospitals paid out nearly $1.8 million total for 11 claims, while Dayton's VA hospital paid out $86,000 for 13 claims during that span. Columbus' VA hospital paid two claims for $100,000. Louisville paid out $375,000 for four claims and Lexington paid nearly $653,000 for nine claims. In Indiana, there were two settlements for $400,000 in Fort Wayne, while the VA in Indianapolis settled eight cases for $440,000.

Cincinnati VA hospital officials declined to discuss specific cases, but in a statement, the hospital said "any adverse incident for a veteran within our care is one too many."

"When an incident occurs in our system we aggressively identify, correct and work to prevent additional risks," the statement said. "We conduct a thorough review to understand what happened, prevent similar incidents in the future, and share lessons learned across the system."

The VA's ongoing problems have sparked a series of hearings on Capitol Hill and outrage from President Barack Obama, who said Wednesday that the administration was launching its own investigation into the alleged record falsification. But while he said he was upset with the situation and with the apparent large number of wrongful death settlements nationally, one influential local congressman said it's hard to put the numbers into context.

"I'm not happy at all about this, but there's no way to say whether these claims are normal or a symptom of a bigger issue," said U.S. Rep. Brad Wenstrup, R-Columbia Tusculum, a doctor and Army veteran who serves on the House Veterans Affairs Committee. "I'm disheartened to hear that there were that many (claims) ... but any doctor coming out of medical school any more is pretty much warned that they will get sued at least once in their career.

"What this shows is what I've thought all along ... this system doesn't have anything built into it that truly demands efficiency. We need to get this fixed."

The local list does not appear to have any allegations of waiting too long for treatment. The average payment was more than $174,000 while the median payment was $200,000. Local VA officials said they haven't calculated an initial wait time for a primary care visit. Nationally, the standard is to see at least 47 percent of new primary care patients within two weeks; VA officials say the current local rate is 38 percent. Local VA officials also said that "most" new primary care patients are seen within 30 days.

The 277-bed Cincinnati VA Medical Center treats about 42,000 veterans annually, while the VA system handles about 85 million patients annually.

Data compiled by CIR shows there were several deaths linked to misdiagnosis or a "failure to treat," the finding on Harvey's claim. According to the heavily redacted original paperwork filed by his wife, Harvey died from a heart attack while staying at the VA hospital in Corryville in March 2008 at the age of 60. The Enquirer identified Harvey through an extensive search of public records, although Harvey's widow or family could not be located after an exhaustive search. But the original claim document states in a handwritten note that "the Cincinnati VA did not take care of him on March 31, 2008 and he had a heart attack and died."

Harvey "should not have died when he came to the Cincinnati VA beginning on March 12, 2008 or thereabouts," the claim form states. "I can not drive and I do not work. We also provided for five grandchildren."

Those seeking damages from the VA for malpractice or wrongful death must first go through an internal claim process as stated by the Federal Tort Claims Act before they can sue in court. That differs from private hospitals and health care providers, which can be sued directly for malpractice/wrongful death. Only one of the 10 Cincinnati claims reached federal court, where it was settled for $600,000. CIR data indicates that about 60 percent of all claims are handled internally, with the rest proceeding to civilian courts.

Harvey served in the U.S. Army between April 1968 and November 1969, according to public records. Harvey's wife initially asked for $1 million in her claim, dated Feb. 2, 2010, but was awarded $75,000 through the VA's administrative claim process.

The documents obtained by CIR include details on two other deaths involving both the Cincinnati VA as well as its Fort Thomas nursing home, but no names were available.

A World War II veteran underwent a complete hip replacement in 2009 in Cincinnati and was transferred to the Fort Thomas home to rehabilitate. He fell there in August of that month, according to the claim, and then later in August he had the staples removed from his operation. That took place in Cincinnati, and the report stated that "there was no sign of infection" at that time. In fact, the wound had become infected as discovered two days later. The unnamed veteran, who fought at Iwo Jima, later died in September 2009 after he became septic despite an emergency operation. That claim was for $750,000, which resulted in a settlement of $110,000.

The third account included a claim that local VA doctors missed catching prostate cancer in an unnamed veteran in 2007. That claim sought $1.3 million, but the veteran's family was ultimately awarded $250,000.

Veteran groups say that for the most part, VA care can be very good but that the culture needs changing as indicated by the wait time list scandal and the number of wrongful death claims.