VA letter left out details on veteran's care
By William R. Levesque, Times Staff Writer
Saturday, August 9, 2008
TAMPA — Rep. Gus Bilirakis wanted answers about how the nation's busiest veterans hospital treated a Tarpon Springs man who died in the facility's care.
What Bilirakis, R-Palm Harbor, got was a letter from the James A. Haley VA Medical Center that did not include vital details about Richard Stecher's treatment.
The three-page letter dated July 24 did not disclose that:
• Haley's chief of staff had apologized to Stecher's companion, Mary Nicholl, the day before, telling her that three VA doctors "missed opportunities" to treat Stecher, 64, who died June 30 of a perforated bowel obstruction.
• Haley had concluded Stecher should have been admitted to the hospital in April after a CAT scan, two months before he was admitted.
• The VA sent Stecher for the April CAT scan at a private company because it was short of staff, and a non-VA radiologist who reviewed the results did not have access to previous scans for an important comparison.
A Department of Veterans Affairs regional lawyer, James Kelly, said on Friday that the VA was not attempting to keep any information from Bilirakis. "Nothing could be further from the truth," Kelly said.
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http://www.tampabay.com/news/military/veterans/article764297.ece
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