Veterans Dying "Waiting" Should Be Required Reading

If you read about veterans dying for care that has flooded emails and social media, here is what the Inspector General found.

Report No. 15-00408-204
Healthcare Inspection
Alleged Patient Deaths and Management Deficiencies in Home Based Primary Care
Beckley VA Medical Center
Beckley, West Virginia
May 8, 2017

We substantiated that from 2007 through 2012, 25 of 40 patients died while awaiting admission to HBPC. However, we did not find that these patient deaths were associated with a delay in admission to HBPC as the patients continued to receive care from their health care providers prior to their deaths. We found that from 2008 through July 2012, HBPC staff kept an unapproved wait list in violation of Veterans Health Administration policy.

We did not substantiate HBPC patient scheduling, wait times, and backlogs were mismanaged. We found that, other than the wait list issue cited above, HBPC program managers substantially complied with VHA and facility policies. We substantiated that an HBPC provider changed a patient’s diagnosis by adding a diabetes diagnosis to the patient’s problem list. However, we could not determine that the change was made to obtain prosthetic shoes to the patient.

We did not substantiate HBPC providers inappropriately prescribed antibiotics.

We did not substantiate that providers overprescribed opioids or changed patients’ diagnoses in order to prescribe opioids.
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Just like the suicide report, if these veterans really matter to you, then take the time to actually read the reports instead of just passing on headlines.