After the recent Walter Reed Veteran’s Administration (VA) Hospital scandal in Iraq, the spotlight has been focused on VA hospitals in the United States as well as abroad. Experts have said that the condition of many of the VA hospitals around the country are in disrepair, not adequately staffed or staffed by people who are not properly trained or monitored.

The VA claims process for medical malpractice has also come under scrutiny. Unlike medical malpractice claims against private hospitals, veterans often have a hard time simply getting their medical records from the VA. Once they have them and a claim is filed, they must wait 6 months to have the claim investigated. If the VA doesn’t settle the claim or does nothing at all, the veteran is then allowed to file a lawsuit.

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The war in Iraq employs a huge amount of troops who have experienced an enormous amount of casualties – both physical and mental. Will these men and women be able to get the kind of care they need in our nation’s VA system? Many don’t think so.

Reports of Neglect and Misdiagnosis

There have been countless reports of neglect and misdiagnosis in VA hospitals. Yet without other insurance, veterans are forced to use the VA system. Jeff Milman, and attorney who specializes in VA claims, explains the kinds of cases he’s seen. “I’ve seen a lot, but each case is different. There can be surgical errors which really have nothing to do with the system itself unless you’re dealing with a surgeon who hasn’t been policed by their own.

More often than not it’s lack of supplies. For example, we are doing a case right now where a veteran went in for an elective surgery and they didn’t have enough blood on supply for his particular blood type and he bled out during the surgery and went into cardiac and now his heart muscles are wiped out. So, that’s a typical example of the facility not storing the proper supplies for him.

I’ve seen other cases where veterans will wait for months and months to get a simple scan or MRI. By the time they eventually get scanned, with the VA canceling appointments and what have you, they’ve got a serious problem that could have been averted. I’ve seen women with breast lumps who go into the VA and their mammograms keep getting cancelled and cancelled and time goes by despite their efforts and they wind up with breast cancer.”

What to Do

If you’ve been injured at a Veteran’s hospital, finding an attorney who knows the VA process is extremely important. Milman provided some tips on what questions to ask, “I would ask, how long have you been practicing law? What expenses if any do I have to lay out? For example, in securing an expert, most good [medical malpractice] lawyers will say ‘none’ in a VA case and deal with the contingency fee which is allotted under the federal rules. You would want to ask that lawyer how much of their practice is dedicated to VA malpractice and negligence work as opposed to other types of cases such as auto [accident] cases or regular state medical malpractice.”

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