Case reviews to take six months, vets told

Pathologist: No impaired work after ’16

FAYETTEVILLE — Verifying the work of a pathologist who officials say was impaired at work will take six months, veterans were told Monday in Fayetteville.

“I have six months to live. What good is that to me?” said Harold Logan of Lavaca, a cancer patient of the Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks.

A pathologist at the system’s hospital in Fayetteville misdiagnosed at least seven cases known so far, administrators said in a June 18 news conference. At least one of those misdiagnosed cases proved fatal, the Department of Veterans Affairs has said.

The doctor was dismissed in April for working while impaired, according to administrators. He had been suspended previously for being impaired in March 2016, but returned to work that October after counseling and a check of his work found no errors.

All 19,794 veterans or family members whose cases were handled by the pathologist were sent letters that a review is under way, according to Kelvin L. Parks,

interim medical director at the system. More than one test was done on some of the patients, requiring double-checking of more than 30,000 samples.

About 2,500 cases have received review so far, and the system will sign a contract with a university-based medical system within days to provide pathologists to come on-site to review cases full time, Parks said. Another such contract should be signed within two weeks with another university-based system in a bordering state, he said.

The pace of review should increase considerably, Parks said, since those checked so far were done by pathologists who volunteered in addition to their regular duties. Every case involved will be reviewed by a pathologist from outside the Fayettevillebased system, Parks said.

Dr. Robert Morris Levy of Fayetteville said Monday he was the pathologist involved. He confirmed he worked while impaired with alcohol in 2016, but said he didn’t work impaired after that.

“I was fired because I was arrested for DWI by an overzealous police officer,” Levy said. He ran an errand to the post office on Dickson Street in Fayetteville and walked from the parking lot with an unsteady gait because of a knee injury, he said. When he returned to his car he was given a field sobriety test and failed because of the same knee problem and because the test was administered on a slope, he said.

Fayetteville Police provided an electronic copy of the report of Levy’s arrest March 1. It makes no mention of any complaint by Levy regarding his knee. The report says Levy’s speech was “very slurred.” It also says Levy was taken to a level portion of the parking lot for the field sobriety test and he failed the portion of the test where the ability to follow a finger with eye motions only was involved.

The veterans pathologist was fired in April while his case awaited review. Levy said Monday he was still working at the time of his arrest in March, but Parks said the pathologist hadn’t returned from his October suspension.

After his arrest it was assumed he had relapsed, Levy said.

The Fayetteville- based health care system can neither confirm nor deny Levy is the pathologist involved because it’s a personnel matter, spokeswoman Wanda Schull said Monday afternoon.

Parks took questions for more than an hour Monday at an open meeting in the system’s auditorium in Fayetteville. The standing-room crowd of at least 150 consisted almost exclusively of veterans or family members who had received a letter telling them their cases were under review. That was according to a show of hands when Parks asked how many there received a letter.

Most of the audience’s questions regarded how anyone in such a responsible position as pathologist could work impaired and no one notice or take action. Parks told the audience the system’s handling of the matter is the subject of a separate investigation by the federal Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General.

The cases under review are prioritized by risk, Parks told the audience. Tests for the most serious possible diagnoses, such as prostate biopsies for cancer, will be reviewed first, he said. Other risky conditions earmarked for priority are: CT guided needle biopsies, breast biopsies and endoscopy.

“Did you guys kill my mother?” asked Crystal George of Colcord, Okla. Her mother, Sharon Thomas, 63, died of cancer in December after George convinced her to seek a test outside of the veterans hospital, she said. By that time, her mother’s cancer was in its final stages, George said.

Parks told George he was aware of her mother’s specific case and that review of it was expedited.

None of the expense of the review is being billed to patients, Parks said after the meeting. There is no definite timeline on the Inspector General’s review of the circumstances of the pathologist and oversight of him by administrators, he said.

Juanita Harris, who identified herself at the meeting as a former secretary in the system’s pathology department, said this wasn’t the first time problems came to light in that department. She said she reported problems such as plans to improperly dispose of samples, and they were ignored. Parks said that wasn’t during his tenure and any employee reporting a problem now would be protected from reprisals.

Michael Kalagias, Libertarian Party candidate for Congress, also received a letter identifying him as having a case under review. He told Parks he didn’t appreciate the veterans affected found out three days after a public announcement in June when they got their letters.

Parks replied it was important to get the word out as quickly as possible and that a public announcement was the most effective way.