FBI and the Department of Veterans Affairs IG agents arrested ex-doctor for sexual assault on veteran patient

Former Veterans Affairs doctor in W.Va. accused of incapacitating, molesting patient

By WHSV newsroom
Apr 02, 2020

BECKLEY, W.Va. (WHSV) — A doctor who formerly worked at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Beckley, West Virginia, has been charged with depriving a veteran of his civil rights under the color of law.

Dr. Jonathan Yates, 51, was arrested on Thursday at his home by Special Agents of the FBI and the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General, with the assistance of the Bluefield, Virginia Police Department.

That's according to the Department of Justice.

Federal prosecutors say the charge stems from an incident that happened while Dr. Yates was working at the VA in February 2019.

According to a criminal complaint, Yates sexually molested a patient during an exam.

The complaint says Yates also caused the veteran he was examining severe pain and numbness and temporarily incapacitated him by cracking the patient's neck after the patient explicitly requested him not to do so.

The complaint says while the patient was incapacitated, Yates sexually molested him again.
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Wrongful Insulin Injection ruled homicide at Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center

Veteran Affairs Sued Over Westmoreland County Veteran’s Death From Wrongful Insulin Injection

CBS Pittsburgh
March 3, 2020

The lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages, alleges an unnamed employee who administered the injection was not qualified to be a nursing assistant and that hospital staff failed to take appropriate action to stop the employee from giving the shots.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A woman is suing the federal government over the 2018 death of her father from a wrongful insulin injection at a West Virginia veterans hospital.

Melanie Proctor filed the lawsuit Monday against Veteran Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie. It details a “widespread system of failures” at the Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center in Clarksburg that led to the death of her father, former Army Sgt. Felix Kirk McDermott.

Federal prosecutors have said they are probing the deaths of up to 11 patients at the hospital.

Proctor’s lawsuit said McDermott, 82, was admitted to the hospital for shortness of breath and concern for food aspiration pneumonia on April 6, 2018. He was placed on antibiotics. He had no medical history of diabetes and there was no order for insulin to be administered to him.

An autopsy performed more than six months later at an air base in Dover, Delaware, determined McDermott had received an insulin injection and his death was ruled a homicide, the lawsuit said.

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Wrongful death at VA led to multiple deaths investigation in West Virginia

Multiple suspicious deaths at West Virginia VA raise concerns over criminal activity

Military Times
By: Leo Shane III
August 27, 2019

“These crimes shock the conscience and I’m still appalled they were not only committed but that our veterans, who have sacrificed so much for our country, were the victims,” he said. “These families and loved ones deserve answers as soon as possible and I will make sure they get them.”

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. and a member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, said in a statement this week that he has been briefed on at least 11 suspicious deaths at the Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center in West Virginia. (Courtesy of VA)

Federal investigators are probing a series of suspicious deaths at a Veterans Affairs hospital in West Virginia, a situation that congressional lawmakers have labeled “incredibly disturbing.”

The potential crimes came to light after the family of one of the victims filed a wrongful death suit against VA alleging that their loved one’s death came as the result of an unneeded, fatal insulin dose while at the Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center in Clarksburg.

The lawsuit alleges that VA officials did not take appropriate precautions and provide appropriate oversight to prevent harm to retired Army Sgt. Felix Kirk McDermott, 82, who died in April 2018. A copy of an Armed Forces Medical Examiner report provided by the West Virginia law firm Tiano O’Dell (which is representing McDermott’s family) ruled the death a homicide. McDermott’s health care plan did not include any insulin injections, and he was described “demonstrating clinical improvement” prior to his death.

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. and a member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, said in a statement this week that he has been briefed on at least 11 suspicious deaths at the facility around the same time frame.
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Family of "Mayaguez Marine" Left Behind Found

UPDATE: Vietnam veteran searches for fallen soldier's family

The News Center

WTAP

Sheena Steffen

UPDATE: December 23, 2017

In between our shows, the family of Danny contacted us and explained how shocked they were about learning a veteran was searching for their brother.

Danny's family is now scattered between Marietta and Williamstown and has brothers in Parkersburg and New York City. They also have hopes in contacting Dan shortly.

A veteran who fought in what is known as the last battle of the Vietnam War continues to seek for a fallen soldier’s family.

After many years of research, Vietnam veteran Dan Fields discovered a marine from Waverly West Virginia was left behind in the Mayaguez recovery back in 1975.

According to Fields, Private Danny Marshall was one of the three marines left behind during an evacuation and never returned home. He states that for almost 20 years the Military denied anyone was left behind, but eventually those who were the last to interact with the three marines came forward and shared their experiences.

Fields, being a native to West Virginia and personally involved in the Mayaguez recovery, felt that he should reach out to the fallen soldier’s family.

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Man Risked Life to Save Veteran and Wife in Las Vegas

Veteran talks to man who shielded him, dying wife, after Vegas shooting
KWTX 10 News
Julie Hays
October 5, 2017

WACO, Texas (KWTX) An Army veteran whose wife of 32 years was killed in the Las Vegas shooting rampage heads home Friday, but not before he talked to the stranger who shielded him and his dying wife as shots rang out.

“It was a selfless act of kindness,” Tony Burditus said Thursday.

His wife Denise was among the 58 who died when Stephen Paddock opened fire on the crowd at the Route 91 Harvest Festival Sunday night on the Las Vegas Strip.

Burditus will fly back to West Virginia Friday after the Clark County Medical Examiner’s Office released his wife’s body.

But before he left Las Vegas he had an emotional phone conversation with the stranger who threw himself on top of the couple as bullets flew.

Sam Porter, a CPA from California, was attending the three-day music festival outside the Mandalay Bay hotel with 15 friends, mostly Los Angeles firefighters, when bullets began to rain down around them.

As news organizations began to identify the shooting victims and showed photographs, Porter immediately recognized Denise.
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Vietnam Veteran Dying Dream Up in the Air...In Huey

WV Vietnam veteran receives dream

WDTV News

Jay Martin

August 11, 2017

MAIDSVILLE, W. Va. (WDTV)- If you saw a military helicopter flying over Morgantown Friday you saw Billy Kinsley.

Billy is a 69-year-old West Virginia Vietnam army veteran. He worked as an aircraft mechanic primarily on Huey helicopters. Billy currently has terminal lung cancer and had one last request to ride in a Huey with his four kids and reminisce about his time in the army. With the help of The Dream Foundation and Amedisys Hospice they made his dream a reality.

"This is our first dream here in our region, specifically for our care center in Morgantown. So we are extremely thrilled that we were able to make Billy's dream a reality," said Heidi Chickerell, volunteer coordinator at Amedisys Hospice.

With all the excitement Billy was thrilled to get up in the air...

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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.

Vietnam Veterans Recognition Day in West Virginia

Vietnam vets welcomed at area ceremony
The Register-Herald
By Charles Boothe
March 21, 2016

PRINCETON — Area residents and state and local dignitaries showed their appreciation of Vietnam veterans Sunday afternoon at a ceremony at the Memorial Building in Princeton.

The third annual Vietnam Veterans Recognition Day Ceremony was held to “welcome home, honor and recognize Vietnam veterans,” said Marie Blackwell, a member of the ceremony’s organizing committee.

Blackwell said those veterans were “never given that recognition” during and right after they served, and she also drew attention to the more than 58,000 names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., and the more than 300,000 injured.

“We honor these brave men and women and their families,” she said.

The ceremony is part of a broader statewide recognition leading up to March 30, which is Vietnam Veterans Recognition Day in West Virginia.

Col. Daniel Bochicchio, M.D., interim director at the VA Medical Center in Beckley, said he has a “great respect for veterans who served in combat zones.

“I appreciate your sacrifices,” he told the veterans, and he offered to help in any way he could to make their lives better.

West Virginia Secretary of State Natalie Tennant, one of the guest speakers, told the veterans that two simple words, “welcome home,” mean “so much,” but Vietnam veterans were not given that courtesy and respect.
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Harpers Ferry's Civil War Christmas

Civil War
Joy in Sadness, Harpers Ferry's Civil War Christmas
West Virginia Public Radio
By LIZ MCCORMICK
DEC 23, 2015

Reenactors preparing goods to sell. LIZ MCCORMICK / WEST VIRGINIA PUBLIC BROADCASTING

Every year, dozens of people in Harpers Ferry go back in time. In the shops and at the national park, it's 1864 all over again. It's fun for locals and visitors to see how people in Victorian-era West Virginia celebrated Christmas. But it's also a reminder of how bittersweet it can be for people to try to find a bit of good cheer in the midst of a long and terrible war.

King’s colleague, Melinda Day, is out of her ranger uniform for this occasion. She's wearing a light green plaid dress, and her hair is pulled back in a low bun sort of like former First Lady, Mary Todd Lincoln.

“Because this is a historical park and because we do have a rich Civil War history, we focus on the idea that Christmas and war coexist," Day said, "almost any visitor that walks into this park understands that someplace in this world, American service people are putting their lives on the line even though it may be Christmas, and when a visitor steps into this park for a Civil War Christmas, that’s the same story and relevance that resonates with them in modern times.”

Day says Harper’s Ferry was a strategic site in the war - it switched hands 14 times! And in late 1864, things were changing.

“The war’s coming to an end, and everybody feels that, and you can feel joy while you’re feeling pain. I think anybody that’s been through something like that could nod their head and say, yes I understand that, you can actually experience joy when you also experience pain,” she noted.
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Iraq Veteran Ex-Employee Sues Home Depot

If you know anything about Home Deport you know about Home Depot Foundation and how much they care about veterans, plus they also committed to hiring 55,000 veterans. They have a long history in the veterans community.

Army veteran sues Home Depot, alleging disability discrimination
West Virginia Record
Carol Ostrow
Aug. 28, 2015

WINFIELD—An Army veteran from Putnam County is suing Home Depot, alleging employment law infringement.

Christopher J. Scalf of Hurricane filed a lawsuit Aug. 20 in Putnam Circuit Court against Home Depot U.S.A. Inc., alleging disability discrimination and breach of contract in 2013.

The suit states Scalf was hired June 14, 2013 by Home Depot for the second time and he noted on his application that he was a disabled veteran, having served in the U.S. Army in Operation Iraqi Freedom in Baghdad.

According to the complaint, Scalf sustained multiple injuries including traumatic brain injury during his deployment, was subsequently diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and consequently suffers from periodic migraines and PTSD episodes. He alleges when he developed a migraine June 16, he was sent home rather than given a reasonable accommodation at work, and was then terminated June 24, on the pretext of his (June 17) absence.
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So how does something like this happen? There has to be more to the story than what was just reported.

Losing the Battle at Home, Veterans Remember Jessie Tolbert

Surviving the War; Losing the Battle at Home
WOWT NBC Omaha
Brian Mastre
Jul 24, 2015

“PTSD comes in many forms,” said his platoon leader Graber. “As a leader – sometimes those who are the strongest are suffering the most and you can't pick up on it until later. Sometimes it hits them months and years later.”

They've given everything for their country but when they come home they lose hope. It doesn't have to be that way. Brian Mastre reports: Surviving the War; Losing the Battle at Home

A close-knit unit of the Army's 259th Field Service Company came back together this year for the first time since the team returned from Iraq in 2007.

Back then, none of them envisioned the Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia would one day be their reunion destination.

After all, they all came home from the war alive.

The soldiers came to Arlington National Cemetery to meet the family of one of their leaders in Iraq and to finally say goodbye.

The remains of Specialist Jessie Tolbert of West Virginia rest in Section S25 of the Columbarium.

“I knew him from basic training and all the way through our military experience. We were friends,” said Travis Johnson, who traveled from Lakeland, Florida, to be with the rest of the team. “[Jessie] would come at the drop of a hat to bail you out of whatever mess you were in.”

Their platoon leader, Emily Graber, who was in town on other business, stopped by the cemetery to reminisce and remember. “Tolbert was a special soldier. He was always very willing to do whatever you ask him. Sometimes as a leader, that's hard to find. he was so energetic with what you do and he so loved the military.”

The get-together was months in the making. Around the first of the year, veteran Kyle Hanson of Omaha – another one of Jessie Tolbert's friends and fellow soldiers – along with Jenna Vaughn of Lincoln – another member of the team – tried to find Tolbert online to warn him of bad news. One of their friends had died from a brain aneurysm.

“None of the phone numbers for him worked anymore," said Hanson, "And so I went online to look for him – and I didn't find a phone number – but his obituary.”

Jessie Tolbert had killed himself in 2012. It took more than two years for the news to reach the rest of the team.
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Boots On The Wire, War Not Left Behind

Breakfast With Champions of Freedom

Local heroes gather quietly every two week to share a meal
Veteran's of Foreign War Post #578 sponsor breakfasts for those who fought for our freedom
Preston County News Journal
by Theresa Marthey STAFF WRITER
July 11, 2015

Staff Photo by Writer Theresa Marthey

Veteran breakfast

Veterans gathered at Hometown Diner in Kingwood on Wednesday for breakfast.

KINGWOOD — Hometown Diner in Kingwood had a handful of special customers for breakfast Wednesday morning: A handful of Preston County men and women who some might call heroes met to enjoy a good meal and cup of coffee.

These unassuming men and women presenting themselves as senior citizens are actually veterans who fought in wars as far back as Vietnam, Korea and World War II.

James Savage, 67, is one of the youngest in attendance. He served in Iraq during the recent war. But for Savage, being with the other veterans was awe-inspiring.

“It is a honor to be able to sit here with these gentlemen and talk about life and experiences,” Savage said. “I am humbled to be in their presence.”

Sheridan Layman, Larry Hoban and Foster Huffman, all veterans of World War II, were presented Veterans of Foreign War blazers and shirts to wear at future VFW events.

Layman will be turning 101 years old on July 29. He enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1932 and was discharged in 1947. He was approximately 30 years old during the war.
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Court Overturns Justice for National Guard Soldiers

Court overturns $85 million award for Oregon soldiers
AP
By Steven Dubois
May 14, 2015

A federal jury in Portland found KBR guilty of negligence after a three-week trial in late 2012. Each of the 12 soldiers was awarded $850,000 in noneconomic damages and $6.25 million in punitive damages.

PORTLAND, Ore. — The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned an $85 million jury award to a dozen Oregon National Guard soldiers who said they were sickened from guarding a water treatment plant during the Iraq War.

The military contractor Kellogg, Brown and Root successfully argued that Oregon was not the proper jurisdiction for the case. KBR is based in Houston, and similar cases filed by soldiers from Indiana, West Virginia and South Carolina are pending in federal court there.

“We are thrilled with the result; it is the right result and we look forward to a successful conclusion to this and all the legacy tort claims that relate to KBR’s work supporting the U.S. military in Iraq,” KBR attorney Geoffrey Harrison said by phone Thursday.
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Only 9% of West Virginians Veterans Yet 23% of Suicides

Suicide rate higher among veterans in West Virginia
West Virginia Gazette
by Erin Beck, Staff writer
February 15, 2015

In 2011, the rate of suicide among users of Veterans Health Administration services in West Virginia was 32.0 per 100,000, according to Kerry Meeker, a spokeswoman for the Department of Veterans Affairs. The rate among the general population in the state was 17.4.

Tara Abdalla loved ballet, drawing, writing poems and serving her country.

Richard Abdalla, Tara’s father, said she was friendly and outgoing. She didn’t show any outward signs of suffering in her phone conversations with him, while she was stationed at Hill Air Force Base, in Utah.

But on June 3, 2006, 23-year-old Tara took her own life.

As of the end of September, about 9 percent of West Virginians were military veterans, according to U.S. Census data. But veterans made up about 23 percent of state suicides from 2000-2013, according to the Department of Health and Human Resources’ Health Statistics Center.

Looking back now, Abdalla says he sees that several of Tara’s experiences contributed to her emotional struggle. Tara was not allowed to deploy because of her last name, even though the family is not Muslim. He said there were incidents of American soldiers attacking other American soldiers who had Arabic last names.

“The whole reason she joined was to go over there,” Abdalla said. “She was really upset that she couldn’t go. She understood why, but she didn’t like it.”

She was also dealing with thyroid problems, which ultimately resulted in her being released from the Air Force.

She stayed in Utah, to try to work things out with a boyfriend with whom she was having problems. She became pregnant, then had a miscarriage. She also found out that her grandmother, with whom she was very close, had Alzheimer’s disease.

Figures from the DHHR’s Health Statistics Center show that, from 2000 to 2013, 983 veteran deaths were documented as suicides. Of those, 881 were people 35 or older, and 413 were people over age 65.
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Vietnam Veteran Marine Happily Lectured By Son

W.Va. veteran with cancer gets wish to see son lecture at Pitt
Ex-Marine visits math class at Pitt
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
By Amy McConnell Schaarsmith
November 25, 2014

“Dad, being a Vietnam veteran, didn’t quite get the recognition those guys deserved,” said Mr. Wheeler, 46. “I thought we could shine a little light on what he’d done for us.” 

Robin Rombach/Post-Gazette
Jeffrey Raymond Wheeler sits Monday in the back of a mathematics class taught by his son Jeffrey Paul Wheeler at the University of Pittsburgh.

The speeches, the handshakes, the red-white-and-blue cake -- it was all a surprise, and a lot more public acclamation than retired U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Jeffrey Raymond Wheeler, a Vietnam War veteran with terminal lung cancer, was used to receiving for his service in Da Nang in the mid-1960s.

Sitting up as straight as he could in his wheelchair, Mr. Wheeler, a 68-year-old former coal miner from Wheeling, W.Va., listened quietly to words of praise from a veterans services spokesman for the University of Pittsburgh. He shook hands with his many well-wishers, accepting their thanks and thanked them in return for attending the reception.

Mr. Wheeler’s cancer has left him weakened, making the wheelchair necessary. But when it was time to face the cameras, he stood and to a spot in front of the Marine Corps and United States flags, and spoke from his heart. Why, he was asked, was one of his final wishes to see his elder son, Pitt mathematics lecturer Jeffrey Paul Wheeler, teach a class?

“He’s special in my life, like my other son,” he said, as his wife, Ruth Ann, stood nearby. “God blessed me, blessed both of us, with two wonderful sons.”
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Veteran Saved From Attempted Suicide Off Bridge

Man talked down from jumping off New River Gorge Bridge
Charleston Daily Mail
by Marcus Constantino
Multimedia reporter
Monday, November 3, 2014

A scary situation on the New River Gorge Bridge ended without tragedy Monday morning after a man was rescued from a support beam underneath the New River Gorge Bridge.

A Fayette County 911 dispatcher said a report of a “possible jumper” was called in at 8:45 a.m. According to a press release from the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department, the individual called 911 and told a dispatcher he was underneath the bridge.

When first responders arrived on the scene, they found that the man had left the catwalk and was standing on a steel support beam near the apex of the bridge’s arch, at the edge of the bridge. Opened in 1977, the deck of the New River Gorge Bridge is 876 feet above the New River.

According to the press release, personnel with the Fayette County Crisis Negotiations Team spoke with the individual for more than two hours before he agreed to allow first responders to pull him to safety. A member of the Fayette County High-Angle Rescue Team was lowered down from a fire truck ladder and harnessed the individual so he could be safely lifted up to the bridge deck.

Fayette Sheriff Steve Kessler said the man was a military veteran who may be suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD.

“We will be working with the Veterans Administration to help this individual obtain the treatment that he needs,” Kessler said.
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Laughlin Air Force Base Pilot Stops Tragedy at Walmart

Air Force Pilot Saves Life during Stand-off
Air Force News
by Joel Langton
October 28, 2014

LAUGHLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- It was just another trip to Wal-Mart for 2nd Lt. Joshua Nelson when he popped in to grab some fish hooks for a family trip to the lake this past Spring. Little did he know that a quick shopping trip would turn into so much more.

The West Virginia Air National Guardsman was walking to the Hunting and Fishing section when he heard a woman say, "Stop, put it down!"

"I could tell she was stressed and she sounded frightened," said Nelson. "I looked into the aisle, and this young man had a knife to a woman's stomach."

According to police reports, the young man was mad at his mother, who he had a knife to, because she wouldn't buy him a gun. Nelson told his wife Brittany to go alert the store manager and call the police. Nelson, who has a concealed weapons permit stepped up beside the woman.

"I put my hand on my pistol where he'd notice, and then I stepped in between them," said Nelson. "I kept demanding he hand me the knife. I wanted him to see only one option. As I was standing beside that lady, I felt like I was responsible for her life. I was going to do whatever I had to do to protect her." Then, according to the police report, Nelson went from trying to stop a murder to trying to stop a suicide when the assailant turned the knife on himself.
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American Federation of Government Employees Want VA Director Gone

Union Wants Top Veterans Affairs Official Out of Office
Time Warner Cable News
By: Chris Williams
09/12/2014

DURHAM-- A national union wants to oust a top VA official.

The American Federation of Government Employees held a protest outside the Veterans Affairs Mid-Atlantic Regional office in Durham on Friday. They want network director, Dan Hoffman, gone.

Union members blame him for many of the problems in the VA system. His office oversees VA hospitals in North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia. Hospitals have come under fire for lack of patient care. A national audit showed the Durham VA had one of the longest wait times for patients. Hospital officials dispute that.

AFGE members say part of the problem is that Hoffman hasn't hired more doctors and nurses. They say he continues to downgrade and cut the pay of low-salaried employees.
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West Virginia National Guards Pushes for Medal of Honor for Ex-Green Beret

West Virginia National Guard pressing for Medal of Honor for Vietnam veteran
West Virginia Gazette
by Rusty Marks, Staff writer
July 6, 2014

Courtesy photo
Edward Ziobron was a sergeant with U.S. Special Forces in 1970 when he took part in a secret mission behind the lines in Laos. Fellow soldiers credit him, though badly wounded, with leading his platoon to safety. The West Virginia National Guard is trying to get Ziobron the Medal of Honor for his actions.

Those who survived a November 1970 top secret mission behind the lines in Laos credit Master Sgt. Edward Ziobron with saving the lives of his platoon during an off-and-on, four-day running battle with the North Vietnamese Army.

Ziobron, a 64-year-old member of the West Virginia National Guard living near Martinsburg, received no official recognition of his actions until 2005, when he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. But National Guard officials are now pushing to have the award upgraded to the Medal Of Honor — the nation’s highest award for valor — for Ziobron’s actions from Nov. 25-29, 1970.

“This guy is high speed,” said Maj. Gen. James Hoyer, the state’s adjutant general. “At 64 years old, this guy is still jumping out of airplanes and teaching younger guys how to get ready for Special Forces school.”

Until recently forced to retire from military duty because of his age, Ziobron was serving as a trainer with the National Guard’s Special Forces Group. Hoyer said he remains a special forces consultant with the National Guard as a civilian employee.

Ziobron, a former Green Beret, was serving with the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam — Studies and Observations Group at the time of the November 1970 top secret mission into the Laotian jungle.
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Outsourced veteran shoddy care left him malnourished

This veteran was outsourced. He suffered because of non-VA doctor. He should sue the doctor.

Malnourished Veteran Pleads For Help From VA
WBKO
By: Kayla Vanover
Jun 27, 2014

BOWLING GREEN, Ky (WBKO) -- An Army veteran, living right here in Bowling Green, is being denied full benefits while suffering from a surgery that he says was performed in error.

Frank Coursey has not eaten solid food in nearly three years. As if this is not enough strain on his body, he goes to bed each night worried about the future of his family, if something were to happen to him.

"This picture is on 07-07-2007. I was 286 pounds. This picture was Father's Day of this year," said Frank Coursey, veteran.

Frank Coursey is currently 133 pounds, losing on average five pounds per week. His weight loss is the result of a gastric bypass surgery performed by a doctor in West Virginia, whom he was referred to by a his local VA physician.

Coursey says immediately following his surgery, he knew something did not feel right.

"Dr. Canterbury was there with about eight or nine students discussing the operations of the job and all that. I remember him looking at me and saying this is the worst case scenario of this surgery that we've had," said Frank Coursey, veteran.
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