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WASHINGTON -- Legislation introduced by West Virginia's two U.S. senators would require a detailed report of the suspicious deaths at the Louis A. Johnson Medical Center in Clarksburg.
Federal authorities are investigating deaths at the hospital involving veterans who were patients at around the same time, on the same unit and under similar circumstances. A person of interest in the deaths is no longer working there, hospital officials said.
The Improving Safety and Security for Veterans Act of 2019 introduced by Sens. Shelley Moore Capito and Joe Manchin of West Virginia would require the Department of Veterans Affairs to prepare reports on safety and quality of care at VA medical centers. The legislation ensures everyone would be fully informed of policies and procedures, the senators said.
Also, the legislation requires the Department of Veterans Affairs, upon completion of the criminal investigation into the deaths, to submit a report and timeline of events surrounding the deaths at Clarksburg.
"Victims' families have waited long enough and deserve answers. I can't imagine having a loved one murdered at a VA Medical Center and after a year and a half, still not knowing how it happened," Manchin said. "I want to make sure this never happens to another Veteran at any VA facility ever again."
The lack of information being made available has caused a "crisis of confidence" among veterans in safety, security and quality of VA health care, he said.
"Our veterans should always feel safe and cared for at our VA hospitals. No questions asked," Capito said. "It's for this reason that I've stayed on top of this issue since day one when the news first broke."
A comment from the Office of the Inspector General for the Veterans Administration was not immediately available.
Capito said she has remained in contact with the principals in the investigation, the secretary of Veterans Affairs, the U.S. Attorney in West Virginia, the director of the medical center and the VA Inspector General.
"It's important that we get more information for the families, the veterans, and the community," she said. "We need to discuss how these tragedies happened and how to prevent similar occurrences in West Virginia and VA hospitals nationwide."
The revelation that veterans died under suspicious circumstances was first revealed in a notice of claim filed by the family of Felix K. McDermott, 82, who died on April 9, 2018. He died after he was administered a lethal injection of insulin, resulting in severe hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar, according to the autopsy.
The notice, filed by attorney Tony O'Dell of the Charleston firm of Tiano O'Dell, said investigators believe nine or 10 other veterans may have died under similar suspicious circumstances. It also said there was a person of interest in the deaths.
The person of interest was fired for lying she was a certified nursing assistant.
"I am very pleased to see West Virginia's two senators leading the charge to make the VA medical system more transparent and accountable," O'Dell said in a statement to the newspaper. "As with all legislation, the key will be whether it ultimately impacts and improves veteran health care. However, the victims' families should not have to wait for this legislation to make its way through both houses of Congress and then be implemented down the road by the VA to get answers."
The VA and the inspector general know what system failures at the Clarksburg VA medical center allowed the veterans to die of medically unexplained severe hypoglycemia "without any effort whatsoever to investigate why and how it was happening," he said.
"We will never truly know how many veterans died as result of this VA medical center's malfeasance and total lack of caring. The OIG should issue its report on the hospital system failures now and the VA should be reaching out to the victims' families to admit what it did wrong and try to right its wrongs as best it can," O'Dell said. "Lastly, the people in charge at the VA medical center that allowed this to go on for so long should be held accountable so that some confidence in this VA medical center can be restored."
In addition to McDermott, also publicly identified were Archie Dail Edgell, 84, who died on March 26, 2018, William A. Holloway, 96, who died April 8, 2018, George Nelson Shaw Sr., 81, who died April 10, 2018, John Hallman, 87, who died on June 13, 2018, and Russ Posey, 92, who died on July 3, 2018.