MORGANTOWN — Sens. Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito to require the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to pay closer attention to patient safety and quality of care, in light of the string of suspicious deaths that occurred at the Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center in Clarksburg.
The bill is S 2995, The Improving Safety and Security for Veterans Act of 2019. The act would require the VA to submit detailed reports on patient safety and quality of care at all VA Medical Centers. It would also require the VA, once the criminal investigations are completed in Clarksburg, to submit a detailed report and timeline of events surrounding the deaths at the hospital there.
“Victims’ families have waited long enough and deserve answers,” Manchin said in a Tuesday release. “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.”
The bill is intended to increase transparency and accountability at the VA Medical Centers, he said
“Due to the lack of information being made available to the public, veterans across our state are having a crisis of confidence in the safety, security, and quality of their VA healthcare,” he said. “This legislation will help our veterans and their families gain insight into the policies and procedures that could have led to these homicides. Ultimately our goal is to help restore public confidence in the VA across West Virginia and the nation.”
Capito said, “Our veterans should always feel safe and cared for at our VA hospitals. No questions asked. It’s for this reason that I’ve stayed on top of this issue since day one when the news first broke. … It’s important that we get more information for the families, the veterans, and the community. We need to discuss how these tragedies happened and how to prevent similar occurrences in West Virginia and VA hospitals nationwide. This legislation will help us find answers to these questions and help make sure that tragedies like this never happen again.”
According to The Washington Post, the deaths – possibly 11 – occurred from the second half of 2017 through July 2018. The victims received fatal doses of insulin, although they weren’t diabetic. The VA Inspector General and the FBI have engaged in a 14-month homicide investigation.
They have identified a person of interest – an unnamed female former nursing assistant who worked the overnight shift and was charged with monitoring several of the victims in one-on-one bedside vigils, the Post reported.
She was later transferred to a daytime desk job and interviewed by investigators, the Post reported. She was fired seven months later for lying on her resume.
Investigators said none of the victims were terminally ill and the killings do not appear to have been mercy killings.
Some of the victims have been publicly identified: Archie Edgell, 84; John Hallman, 87; William Holloway, 96; Felix Kirk McDermott, 82; Russ Posey, 92; George Nelson Shaw Sr., 81.
While the year is nearing its end, Capito’s office said the bill will remain alive in 2020 and is expected to be “hotlined” – a means of expediting consideration and approval of noncontroversial bills by bypassing regular procedures.
Tweet David Beard @dbeardtdp Email dbeard@dominionpost.com
