Haley VA center apologizes after vet dies

"It just don't seem right," said Szamlewski's widow, Marie. "I just don't understand why they didn't give it to him. Maybe my story can help somebody else to know they've got to stay on the VA every minute."

Haley VA center apologizes after vet dies
By William R. Levesque, Times Staff Writer
Saturday, November 15, 2008



TAMPA — During his recovery from cancer surgery, doctors put Jim Szamlewski on oxygen to help keep him alive.

But they discharged him from the James A. Haley VA Medical Center without the thing most essential to his survival: oxygen.

For up to six agonizing hours on Sept. 5, the 75-year-old Army veteran struggled for breath as his condition deteriorated, his wife said. The oxygen finally arrived. But Szamlewski's heart stopped 12 hours after his discharge. Though it was restarted, his brain had been irreparably damaged.

Szamlewski, of Land O'Lakes, died with the removal of life support on Sept. 9.

His is the third case detailed by the St. Petersburg Times in recent months in which a veteran died after either being misdiagnosed or discharged without vital supplies or equipment.

After a Times inquiry, the Department of Veterans Affairs regional director requested a review of the Szamlewski case by the agency's independent watchdog, the Office of Medical Inspector.
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