Report: Vet on death bed ejected by Hampton VA

[unhappycamper]

Investigators from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ Office of Inspector General found that staff members at the Hampton VA Medical Center, above, were unaware of a VA policy requiring that end-of-life care be provided when veterans and their families ask for it.


Report: Vet on death bed ejected by Hampton VA
By Bill Sizemore
The Virginian-Pilot
© April 1, 2011

The Hampton VA Medical Center inappropriately discharged a terminally ill veteran from its emergency room and failed to provide him hospice care requested by his wife, a federal investigation has found.

Investigators from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' Office of Inspector General found that staff members at the Hampton center were unaware of a VA policy requiring that end-of-life care be provided when veterans and their families ask for it.

The investigators' report, issued Wednesday, came in response to a confidential complaint about the treatment of the veteran, a man in his 50s, who came to the center in August ill with lung cancer that had spread to the brain.

Over three successive visits to the emergency room, the man's condition steadily deteriorated. By the third visit, he was weak, confused, incontinent and required help from VA staff to get out of his car.

His wife told the staff she was having difficulty managing him and could no longer care for him at home.

[FLPanhandle]

1. My brother did his medical internship at a VA hospital

He said it was disgusting how they treated patients. This is probably not the only case.

[rfranklin]

2. And yet, VA hospitals get high ratings from customers...

"Patients routinely rank the veterans system above the alternatives, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index." In 2008, the VHA got a satisfaction rating of 85 for inpatient treatment, compared with 77 for private hospitals. In the same report the VHA outpatient care scored 3 points higher than for private hospitals.<3>

"As compared with the Medicare fee-for-service program, the VA performed significantly better on all 11 similar quality indicators for the period from 1997 through 1999. In 2000, the VA outperformed Medicare on 12 of 13 indicators." <4>

A study that compared VHA with commercial managed care systems in their treatment of diabetes patients found that in all seven measures of quality, the VHA provided better care.<5>

A RAND Corporation study in 2004 concluded that the VHA outperforms all other sectors of American health care in 294 measures of quality; Patients from the VHA scored significantly higher for adjusted overall quality, chronic disease care, and preventive care, but not for acute care.<6>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veterans_Health_Administration

[roguevalley]

3. very, very sad.

[haele]

5. Depends on the institution -

Most large VAs facilities are top of the line - especially those associated with Universities or Military Medical training commands; some are in poorer, out of the way or over-stressed communities with a small facility and a large amount of retirees and/or qualified Vet population. I've heard of a few incidents like this in clinics at, say, Bakersfield or Yuma, or at other small government provided clinics - remote BIA clinics can also have this problem.
However, Hampton Roads is a major Navy town, and should have had adaquate servivces for it's retirees and Vets - even ones who may seem to be "frequent fliers" (repeat vistits because of chronic or loneliness issues) like my uncle at the LA/UCLA VA.
Sounds as if the emergancy room management f^^^ed their protocol.

Haele

[The Backlash Cometh]

4. Where are all those right-wingers who are always loudly thanking

soldiers in public?