Lawmakers push for more VA checks after W.Va. deaths
Injections led to at least 10 vets’ deaths
Post-Gazette Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — As the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs continues to investigate the suspicious deaths of at least 10 veterans at its hospital in Clarksburg, W.Va., Congress is pushing for more information about what VA policies could have contributed to those deaths.
The Improving Safety and Security for Veterans Act was introduced on Thursday by Rep. David
McKinley, R-W.Va., whose district includes Clarksburg. It was co-sponsored by four other lawmakers, including Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, R-Peters.
The legislation calls on the department to submit a report to Congress, within 30 days of the bill’s passage, detailing policies and procedures relating to patient safety and quality of care at VA medical centers across the country.
The VA’s report also would be required to detail how medical center staff access controlled substances and high-risk medications — and what systems are in
place to make sure those are delivered to the correct patient.
The bill comes nearly five months after shocking revelations that at least 10 veterans died in 2017 and 2018 at the Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center after being given injections of insulin they did not need. Those injections caused severely low blood sugar and ultimately led to the deaths.
In August, the VA acknowledged the deaths, which were labeled homicides. The VA Office of Inspector General is investigating and declined to comment this week. The U.S. attorney for the Northern District of West Virginia, Bill Powell, has declined to comment until that investigation is complete.
Among the victims was Felix K. McKermott, 82, a retired sergeant in the U.S. Army and Westmoreland County resident. Another victim, Russ Posey, a 92-year-old
World War II veteran from Elkins, W.Va., was publicly named by family members in November.
“It is clear Congress needs to take action to protect our nation’s veterans,” Mr. Reschenthaler said in a statement with the other lawmakers, calling the Clarksburg deaths “tragic and senseless murders.”
He said the bill “will provide answers for the victims’ families and ensure we are doing more to protect veterans receiving care through the VA.”
The bill comes on the heels of other legislation to provide greater oversight in the aftermath of the Clarksburg deaths.
The Improving Confidence
in Veterans’ Care Act, which passed the House by a 409-1 vote in December, requires the VA to audit its health facilities and submit reports to Congress each year for the next five years. It currently sits in the Senate.
That bill took aim at the VA’s credentialing of health care workers to treat patients, after the VA inspector general testified the agency committed “concerning lapses in protocols that could have or have led to patient harm.”
“We’re seeing evidence now that physicians are making errors that we didn’t used to see, in terms of making it through the system and impacting a large number of veterans,” John Daigh, assistant inspector general for healthcare inspections, told the House Veterans Affairs Committee in October.