Ex-pathologist in VA probe arrested, held

Press conference scheduled for Tuesday, U.S. attorney says

The former pathologist accused of missing diagnoses while impaired at work at the Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks hospital in Fayetteville was booked into the Washington County jail Saturday morning.

The jail booking log lists no charge for Dr. Robert Morris Levy, 53, of Fayetteville. The federal Department of Veterans Affairs is listed as the arresting agency. The log indicates he’s being held at the request of the federal government. Dak Kees, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Arkansas, has called a press conference for Tuesday to discuss the case.

A yearlong review of 33,902 pathology results found 30 missed diagnoses posing serious health risks to patients, according to results released May 31 by the health care system.

The pathology review included every case Levy worked on since his hiring in 2005. Levy confirmed in an earlier interview he worked while impaired with alcohol in 2016, but said he did not work while impaired afterward. A review of his work in 2016 found no errors.

After he was suspended in March 2016 for being impaired, Levy returned to work that October after counseling and after the check of his pathology results. Levy was again taken off clinical work in October 2017 after what the hospital described as a second instance of working while impaired. His dismissal in April came after a personnel review.

The second, complete review of Levy’s work began

in June of 2018.

Two inquiries also were conducted into the misdiagnoses, both by the Office of the Inspector General of the federal Department of Veterans Affairs, according to previous department announcements. One was a clinical and administrative review of what went wrong to allow this situation. The other was a criminal investigation.

The system of the Ozarks worked closely with the Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General and local authorities on this investigation, according to a statement from the system. The statement referred requests for further information to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

“Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks apologizes to veterans and family members negatively impacted by this now-fired former employee and has reviewed every case this individual handled while he was at VA,” the statement says. Veterans and families affected by the errors have been notified of their legal options, the statement said.

The medical review by outside pathologists discovered 3,029 errors in pathology results from 2005 to 2017, said Kelvin Parks, director of the system. Most of those mistakes carried little consequences, he said.

The 3,029 errors out of 33,902 cases make for an error rate of 8.9% compared to a pathology practice average of 0.7%, Parks said. That works out to an error rate more than 12 times the average, figures show.

The Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks serves veterans in 23 counties in Northwest Arkansas, southwest Missouri and eastern Oklahoma.