5 Deaths at a VA Complex Draw Lawmakers’ Concern
By RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD
Published: April 3, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/03/us/03vets.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
LOS ANGELES, April 2 — Five deaths in recent months at the nation’s largest
Veterans Affairs medical complex are troubling and could be a further sign of a
system badly in need of closer oversight, two members of Congress said here
Monday.
The deaths occurred in residential rehabilitation or emergency housing programs
at the West Los Angeles Healthcare Center from November to February.
“What is going on here?” Representative Jane Harman, a Democrat whose district
includes neighborhoods adjacent to the complex, said at a House Veterans’
Affairs Committee meeting on veterans’ health care in the Los Angeles area.
The committee chairman, Representative Bob Filner, a Democrat from San Diego,
noted that the five deaths here, mostly involving veterans with a history of
substance abuse or mental health problems, coincided with anecdotal reports of
suicides among other deaths at additional V.A. hospitals across the country.
Mr. Filner said the Veterans Affairs Department had not been sufficiently
forthcoming about such episodes.
“There are errors all the time,” he said, “and we have to get that down to zero.
But what I object to is a V.A. that seems to want to cover it up.”
The hospital’s director, Charles Dorman, told the panel that the deaths were
“unfortunate” but were an occasionally inevitable outcome of treating people
troubled by substance abuse or mental problems.
“We take a big chance, a big risk, taking care of a difficult population,” Mr.
Dorman said after testifying. “And I’m proud of the work we do.”
Three of the five deaths occurred at a rehabilitation clinic called the
Domiciliary, which treats veterans with physical, mental or substance abuse
problems in a setting much like that of a dormitory.
One of the men, Justin Bailey, 27, an Iraq war veteran who was suffering from a
groin injury and post-traumatic stress disorder, overdosed on the prescription
painkiller methadone and died on Jan. 27, officials said.
Members of Mr. Bailey’s family said that they had warned officials that he might
have abused prescription medication in the past. But V.A. officials said that
this had not been clear to the staff and that he had been allowed to take the
medicine without supervision, in keeping with common practice at the facility.
Five days later, Mark Torres, 55, who was undergoing treatment for abuse of
heroin, died at the Domiciliary, apparently of an overdose of that drug. A third
man died there that day, but officials said his death appeared to stem from
medical complications, not substance abuse.
The deaths of Mr. Bailey and Mr. Torres prompted changes in security and
procedures at the Domiciliary, including additional clinical workers and
searches for contraband drugs, Dr. Dean C. Norman, the hospital’s chief of
staff, said in a recent interview. The V.A.’s medical inspector is investigating
the deaths, as is a panel of doctors commissioned by the department.
The two other deaths occurred in November and February at the Haven, an
emergency shelter for homeless veterans on the grounds that is run by the
Salvation Army. They involved veterans in their 50s with a history of medical
complications and substance abuse, V.A. officials said, though the coroner has
not yet ruled on the cause of death in these cases.