Colorado VA Employee Quit Job to Save Homeless Veteran

Feds investigate veteran's death 
KUSA Melissa Blasius
February 2, 2015

GRAND JUNCTION - Federal investigators will visit a Colorado VA hospital this week to determine whether a patient died due to inadequate care. Whistleblower Chris Blumenstein worked at the Grand Junction Veterans Affairs Hospital as a social worker, and he says he investigators from the Office of Inspector General will interview him Tuesday.

Last year, Blumenstein quit his job in protest as he advocated for a Vietnam-era veteran named Rodger Holmes. Holmes was a formerly homeless veteran who was suffering from Hepatitis C. Blumenstein said Holmes should have been treated by a liver specialist, but the Grand Junction VA did not have one on-staff and did not make a referral for outside care.

Holmes died just before Christmas, and Blumenstein believe Holmes would still be alive if he had received better care from the VA. read more here