Lawsuit alleges negligence against VA Medical Center in West Virginia

Last week, a lawsuit was filed against Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center in West Virginia after several patients died of suspicious means in the same time frame. The family of Felix K. McDermott, who was admitted to the hospital on April 6, 2018 and died on April 9, 2018, alleged that the hospital staff and physicians were negligent. McDermott’s death was ruled by medical examiners to be a homicide resulting from an unneeded and unprescribed injection of insulin causing hypoglycemia, and his family held that the hospital acted outside of the medical standards of care after discovering an unexplained drop in his blood sugar. The lawsuit also stated that the hospital was obligated to protect McDermott from “acts of third persons, including the VAMC staff,” and that it did not uphold its obligation.

According to the lawsuit, Floor 3A of the medical center—where McDermott was located—faced a notably high death rate prior to his death. The floor demonstrated a pattern of unexplained, sudden hypoglycemia during the night shift, between one and six o’clock in the morning. Additionally, the lawsuit held that staff were aware of the high number of patients experiencing hypoglycemia and knew this was abnormal.

Furthermore, the medical center failed to inform the family of the circumstances and of McDermott’s death and did not identity and report his death as an adverse sentinel event meeting the criteria for an autopsy. As a result, an autopsy was not performed until six months after McDermott’s death.

A fired nursing assistant was identified as a person of interest in the investigation, but no charges had been filed. Seven people had been publicly identified as victims, at least two of which were labeled homicides.

Source: The Weirton Daily Times