It’s Veterans Day, 2015 – an apt occasion upon which to reflect not only upon the sacrifices which American veterans have made for our country, but also upon the allegations that have come to light over the last year of numerous cases of negligence within Veterans Administration medical and residential facilities.
This is a subject we feel passionate about. We are currently representing victims of the serious Legionnaires’ disease outbreak that killed 12 veterans and sickened more than 50 other residents of Illinois’ largest veterans nursing home in Quincy, IL in August 2015. Legionnaires’ disease, also called legionellosis, is a severe pneumonia caused by breathing in water mist contaminated with Legionella bacteria.
Our Quincy clients are not the only veterans who have suffered. Most people know about the 2014 “Veterans Affairs Scandal,” when investigators ascertained that not only did at least 40 veterans die while they awaited care at the Phoenix, AZ VHA system, but also that more than 120,000 veterans were still awaiting treatment at several other VHA facilities. In 2014, the Center for Investigative Reporting acquired VA data under the Freedom of Information Act that delineated how, since 9/11, the Department of Veterans Affairs has paid out $200 million in wrongful death compensation to families of over 1,000 veterans who died due to medical negligence.1
In addition, a number of veterans have died or been sickened by hospital-acquired illnesses like legionellosis on VHA medical campuses. The VA has long had protocols in place to control the spread of the potentially deadly Legionella pneumonia bacteria. In 2008 they distributed VHA Directive 1061 (reissued on August 13, 2014), providing recommendations to reduce the risk of Legionnaires’ disease outbreaks.2
Yet Legionnaires’ disease outbreaks continue to regularly strike veterans facilities, even reoccurring for a second time at certain locations. For example, officials at VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System allegedly failed to investigate or report a 12-month outbreak (February 2011 to November 2012) of LD cases, despite knowing for over a year of the presence of dangerous levels of Legionella bacteria in the hospital’s drinking water. 21 veterans were made ill; 6 died. Another outbreak recently occurred at a separate facility in October 2015, killing 1.
The VA’s apparent failure to enforce its own protocols governing the detection and control of Legionella is addressed in a report submitted by the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) to the White House on March 20, 2015. In reviewing the conclusions of the VA’s own internal investigation of an unaddressed infestation of Legionella bacteria at the Grand Junction, Colorado VA, the OSC investigator did not “find reasonable the VA’s conclusion that there was no substantial and specific danger to public health or safety.”
According to the OSC:
“As noted, OMI [Office of the Medical Inspector] found that Grand Junction V AMC did not conduct proper Legionella eradication and other necessary mitigation efforts for seven months following the detection of Legionella in the facility’s water system. OMI concluded that Grand Junction V AMC did not completely address the unsafe conditions that could potentially pose health and safety hazards to veterans and staff. Nevertheless, because the VA found no evidence of clinical consequences resulting from the Legionella, it concluded there was no substantial and specific danger to public health or safety.”3
America’s veterans put their lives on the line to defend our country. It is unconscionable that so many of those lives have ended in wrongful death due to the negligence of our nation’s Veterans Affairs Administration.
If you have lost a loved one to legionellosis contracted at a V.A. facility, you are entitled to compensatory damages. To learn more about our success in helping veterans’ families to secure favorable legal settlements, please contact Fred Pritzker at 1-888-377-8900 or use our free online consultation form.
Sources:
1. Aaron Glantz, “VA pays out $200 million for nearly 1,000 veterans’ wrongful deaths,” The Center for Investigative Reporting, 3 Apr. 2014
<http://cironline.org/reports/va-pays-out-200-million-nearly-1000-veterans%E2%80%99-wrongful-deaths-6236>.
2. “Prevention of Healthcare-Associate Legionella Disease and Scald Injury From Potable Water Distribution Systems,” VHA Directive 1061 Transmittal Sheet 13 Aug. 2014
<http://www.va.gov/vhapublications/ViewPublication.asp?pub_ID=3033>
3. “Re: OSC File No. DI-13-4538,” U.S. Office of Special Counsel, 27 Mar. 2015
<https://osc.gov/PublicFiles/FY2015/15-18%20DI-13-4538/15-18%20DI-13-4538%20-%20Letter%20to%20the%20President.pdf>