Infection Alert for Over 500 Buffalo VA Patients

Higgins, Collins call infection risk notice to Buffalo VA patients 'troubling'

Buffalo News

Henry I. Davis

August 17, 2017

Rep. Brian Higgins says he is posing questions to Veterans Affairs officials about an alert to more than 500 patients at the Buffalo Veterans Affairs Medical Center who underwent procedures with medical scopes.

"Anything that compromises the health and safety of those who so bravely served is extremely troubling," Higgins, D-Buffalo, said in a statement.

"We will ask for more details, await the results of the ongoing investigation, and will work with the Buffalo VA to see that our nation's duty to properly care for our veterans is met," he said.

Rep. Chris Collins, R-Clarence, also called the revelation "troubling." He encouraged veterans in his district who may be concerned to contact his district office for assistance.

"It is completely unacceptable that proper protocols were not being followed, but I applaud the actions taken to relieve the employee at fault from their duties," he said in a statement.

The hospital acknowledged this week that it is notifying 526 patients that the use of an improperly cleaned medical scope may have put them at risk of infection.

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Five Finger Death Punch Taking Care of PTSD Veterans

Five Finger Death Punch frontman vows to perform at Illinois State Fair

The State Journal Register
Steven Spearle
August 18, 2017

Members of FFDP have long-supported U.S. military and veterans issues. In addition to doing USO tours, the band set up a website (www.5fdp4vets.com) that sells merchandise to raise money and awareness for veterans suffering from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). 

Zoltan is also a founding board member of the Las Vegas-based veterans non-profit organization Home Deployment Project, which also assists combat veterans with PTSD.

What version of Five Finger Death Punch shows up at the Illinois State Fair is anyone’s guess.

Mercurial frontman Ivan Moody didn’t make it past the band’s first show during a June tour of Europe. After threatening to leave the group during a brief and chaotic onstage performance in Tilburg, Netherlands, Moody announced afterwards that he had “fallen off the wagon again” and was headed for another rehab stint with the support of band members.

Spokespersons from 10th Street Entertainment, who handle Five Finger Death Punch’s (FFDP) publicity, wouldn’t say whether Moody would be back for the Springfield show, the band’s first since the European tour ended June 24.

FFDP management told Illinois State Fair that there is “no reason to believe the concert will be canceled.”

Then in July, Moody released a statement thanking his fans and his bandmates for standing by him during his rehab stint.

“At this point, I am on track to return to the band with a vengeance in Springfield, Illinois, when we begin the next leg of our North American tour dates,” he said in the statement. “It’s my intention to sing at each and every future show we are committed to, in North America and in Europe. I can’t wait to put all of this behind me and move forward."

Harry Colmery Left More Than a Legacy For Veterans

Editorial: Colmery’s legacy of serving veterans

Topeka Capital Journal
Editorial Board
August 18, 2017

Last summer, the Harry Colmery Plaza was dedicated in downtown Topeka exactly 72 years after President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Serviceman’s Readjustment Act of 1944 — legislation more commonly known as the GI Bill.

Harry Colmery’s niece, Jean Roberts, left, and granddaughter, Mina Steen, inspect the statue of their family member after it’s unveiling Tuesday afternoon in downtown Topeka. The new plaza is dedicated to Harry Colmery, a Topekan who is responsible for the creation of the GI Bill. (2016 file photograph/The Capital-Journal)

After serving in World War I, Colmery became a tireless advocate for veterans, and his involvement with the American Legion culminated in his appointment as national commander in 1936. He was also a member of the organization’s national legislative committee, and during World War II, he wrote a draft that eventually became the GI Bill.

Colmery witnessed the awful treatment of American veterans when they returned from World War I. After enduring unimaginable horrors on the battlefield, they were thanked with abject poverty, a lack of basic health care, no job prospects and no chance to pursue an education. Many of them suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder — a condition that wasn’t well-understand and for which treatments were still in the early stages of development — and other devastating war wounds. This made finding a job, paying for a home and caring for a family even more difficult. Then the Great Depression came.
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Harry Colmery also left a history report of how Congress has failed veterans ever since.

Private Doctor Charge VA For Care Never Delivered?

Somerset Doctor Defrauded Veterans Affairs 350 Times: U.S. Attorney

The Somerset doctor fraudulently received $238,230 from Veterans Affairs for procedures he never performed, according to a U.S. Attorney. 

Patch.com 
By Alexis Tarrazi (Patch Staff) 
August 17, 2017

SOMERSET, NJ — A cardiologist from Somerset admitted Thursday to defrauding the Veterans Affairs program by billing for services he had not actually performed, Acting U.S. Attorney William E. Fitzpatrick announced.

Apostolos Voudouris, 44, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge William H. Walls in Newark federal court to information charging him with health care fraud. Voudouris must also pay $476,460 to resolve the government’s claims under the False Claims Act as part of a civil settlement agreement.

Voudouris, a physician specializing in cardiology and electrophysiology, began providing services to eligible veterans at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in East Orange, pursuant to his contract with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in 2006.

On more than 350 occasions between 2011 and 2015, Voudouris claimed he performed procedures he had not actually performed. By doing so, Voudouris fraudulently received $238,230 from the VA, he admitted.

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Veteran Jesse Bird Pleaded For Help From Australia VA--Before Suicide

Jesse Bird warned Veterans' Affairs he could become suicide statistic days before his death

ABC News Australia

Michael Atkin

August 18, 2017

Combat veteran Jesse Bird pleaded with the Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA) to urgently help him, warning he was suicidal just days before his death, according to official records.

But the Department did not budge and in June, after losing his 18-month battle for compensation for war-related injuries, Jesse took his own life.

Disturbingly, money from Veterans' Affairs finally came through after his death and his parents have asked the department for an explanation.

His devastated family is campaigning for an urgent overhaul to how DVA handles compensation claims to prevent more veteran suicides.

His mother, Karen Bird, told 7.30 her son's file shows his concerns were not taken seriously.

"It triggers a really emotional response, to realise my boy was in so much pain," Ms Bird said.

"He obviously felt that he couldn't contact us for more money and he was really just pushed into the corner and he didn't see any other way out."

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