Lawsuit After VA Misdiagnosis Caused Veteran's Suicide

Lawsuit blames Phoenix VA hospital for veteran's suicide 
AZ Centeral
Dennis Wagner, The Republic
May 9, 2015

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Gene Spencer killed himself after a VA doctor erroneously said his death from cancer was imminent.
A federal lawsuit was filed when the VA rejected a wrongful-death claim for $2.5 million in damages.
Spencer's widow says, "It just wasn't right; he deserved better than what they did to him."

Shirley Fobke holds a photo taken on the day she married Army veteran Gene Spencer in 1997.

Spencer battled cancer and received care from the Phoenix VA. He committed suicide in 2012.

(Photo: Tom Tingle/The Republic)

The lawsuit says U.S. Army veteran Gene Spencer was at the Phoenix VA Medical Center on Oct. 5, 2012, when a physician told him cancer had metastasized in his lungs and he should go home to prepare for the end.

Three days passed, according to the complaint, before the 67-year-old husband, writer, audiologist, building contractor and dog lover used a gun to take his own life.

One day after that, Spencer's wife, Shirley Fobke, says, she received a phone call from the hospital notifying her of good news: There was an error in the diagnosis, and Spencer was not about to die.

Those are the key allegations in a wrongful-death action filed April 30 with the U.S. District Court in Phoenix, seeking damages from the VA on behalf of Spencer's widow.

"As a result of the misdiagnosis," says the suit, "Shirley Fobke suffered and will continue to suffer emotional and economic injury, lost wages, lost opportunity for financial gain, future earning capacity, loss of consortium, loss of love and affection. ..."
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