VA Patient Has Wrong Testicle Removed

[HARDCORE]

http://www.ajc.com/news/content/shar...nid=amn040507e

ajc.com > Associated Press story

VA Patient Has Wrong Testicle Removed

LOS ANGELES - An Air Force veteran has filed a federal claim after an operation at a Veterans Administration hospital in which a healthy testicle was removed instead of a potentially cancerous one.

Benjamin Houghton, 47, was to have had his left testicle removed June 14 at the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center because there was a chance it could harbor cancer cells. It also was atrophied and painful.

But doctors mistakenly removed the right testicle, according to medical records and the claim, which seeks $200,000 for future care and unspecified damages. He still hasn't had the other testicle removed.

"At first I thought it was a joke," Houghton told the Los Angeles Times. "Then I was shocked. I told them, 'What do I do now?'"

Houghton, his wife, Monica, and their attorney, Dr. Susan Friery, said they hoped to get the VA's attention by going public with the situation.

Dr. Dean Norman, chief of staff for the Greater Los Angeles VA system, has formally apologized to Houghton and his wife.

"We are making every attempt that we can to care for Mr. Houghton, but it's in litigation, and that's all we can tell you," he said. The hospital changed practices as a result of the case, he added.
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April 4, 2007 - 8:06 p.m. PDT

[HARDCORE]

Sent this piece [VA Patient Has Wrong Testicle Removed] to a friend and this was his response. This friend was a former Army Sergeant [Retired] and a Former Prisoner of War during the Korean War. These are his opinions! Rick
_______________________________

West LA VA is a piece of sh!t. I had experiences there via a buddy who was hospitalized there. And also, Rots of ruck trying to sue the VA.

Shorty

[Gimpy]

Tell Shorty that he's dead WRONG about sueing the VA.

I did it, and I WON my lawsuit!

If you've got the DOCUMENTED FACTS and a GOOD LAWYER and can prove the VA screwed up, it IS possible.

It took me nearly two and one half years, but I KICKED THEIR ASS!

PS--It goes without question that the LA Veterans hospital is one of the worst, if not THE worst in the system. But, it DOES NOT reflect the overall quality of care being received by the overwhelming majority of veterans across this country. So says the National Institute of Medicene, Harvard Medical School, the AMA and countless other medical professional sources.

[SuperScout]

While I haven't seen the low-class care provideby the LA VA Center, I can attest to the fact that the Audie Murphy VA Hospital in San Antonio and the VA Hospital in Houston are bottom rung dwellers in the care department. I pity any poor veteran that has to resort to these medical cesspools.

Apparently the Harvard Medical School, the AMA stalwarts of "medicene" never made the trip to either San Antonio or to Houston.

[Packo]

Nor Charleston, SC or Washington, DC. I do know there are good VA Hospitals, but it's the old "luck of the draw".

Sad story.

Pack

[Gimpy]

WHAT THE VA DOES RIGHT -- Patients in VA hospitals are more likely to receive optimal care than patients in other hospitals.


The VA's information technology system tracks and measures the care of each patient, resulting in significantly higher compliance with best practices.


What the VA Does Right

BY BETSY McCAUGHEY

The average hospital patient is given the wrong medication or the wrong dose at least once a day, according to the Institute of Medicine, a research organization that advises Congress.


The good news is that these mistakes are less likely to happen in a hospital run by the Department of Veterans Affairs. Surprised?


Recent news accounts might lead you to believe that VA hospitals are a national embarrassment. That may have been true at one time. Not any more. VA hospitals have undergone a remarkable turnaround in the last decade. On average, they earn higher marks for patient safety and quality of care than most other hospitals in America.

The shameful conditions of Walter Reed, which is an Army hospital unaffiliated with the Department of Veterans Affairs, have misled the public. The situation has been exacerbated by attacks from politicians in both parties who are excoriating the VA without knowing the facts.


The VA system is well ahead of most hospitals in protecting patients from medication errors. How? By adopting bar coding. The nurse scans the barcode printed on the patient's bracelet, indicating the name and dose of each medication the patient should be getting. Then the nurse scans the barcode on the pre-packaged medication to make sure it's a match.


Another new technology ? computer physician order entry ? is designed to stop doctors from prescribing the wrong medication. With CPOE, the doctor enters the prescription at a computer terminal instead of scribbling it on a pad. The computer is programmed to identify incorrect doses or a medication that conflicts with other meds the patient is already taking. If the computer sounds an alarm, the physician has to override it. In Australia, Great Britain, New Zealand, and much of Western Europe, hospitals have already adopted CPOE, but most American hospitals have resisted it. The exception is the VA hospital system, which has installed CPOE nationwide.


The VA has also pushed ahead of most hospitals in America by investing in electronic medical records, allowing a patient's medical history to be accessed in a few seconds. The VA database is a resource for medical researchers and the envy of the private sector.


The director of the National Center for Patient Safety at the Department of Veterans Affairs, Dr. James Bagian, points out that the VA is ahead on a wide range of other safety initiatives. One is preventing injuries related to falls, by providing fragile patients with easy to wear padded hip protectors. Mr. Bagian is zealous about patient safety. He described the difficulties of getting older patients in and out of hip-protectors and the importance of preventing life-altering fractures.


VA hospitals are also ahead of the industry in fighting one of the most feared, drug-resistant hospital infections, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or MRSA . In 2002, the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System launched a pilot program that reduced MRSA infections by a stunning 85% . How? By enforcing meticulous hand hygiene, screening to identify patients carrying the bacteria, and taking precautions to prevent the bacteria from spreading to other patients via gloves, wheel chairs, stethoscopes, nurses uniforms, and doctors' lab coats. Now the VA is instituting the same approach nationwide, including providing rapid MRSA testing equipment.


Patients in VA hospitals are also more likely to receive optimal care than patients in other hospitals. In the late 1990s, the VA re-engineered its health care system using information technology to track and measure the care each patient was given. The result is significantly higher compliance with best practices.


According to a study in the May 2003 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine, patients in VA hospitals, compared to Medicare-eligible patients in nongovernment hospitals, received better care in 12 out of 13 measures. Measures included care for diabetes, depression, congestive heart failure, and preventive cancer screenings. A RAND study of 12 VA hospitals published in 2004 in the Annals of Internal Medicine showed similar results.

Not all 1,400 hospitals operated by the Department of Veterans Affairs are models of excellence . A recent internal VA report acknowledges that some hospitals are in need of repair, with mold, leaky roofs, and defective plumbing. Also, the department's inspector general recently cited the James A. Haley Medical Center in Tampa, Fla., for serious shortcomings (one operating room was in foul condition----Gimp ), and another report cited substandard conditions at the Nashville and Murfreesboro Tennessse, South Carolina, and the L. A. California facilities.


Physical shortcomings aside, the VA delivers better care than most hospitals. It shouldn't be a surprise that the American Customer Service Satisfaction Index, based at the University of Michigan, shows that patients in VA hospitals are more satisfied with their care on average ? 84% to 74% ? than patients in private sector hospitals.


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Ms. McCaughey, the former lieutenant governor of New York State, is the founder and chairman of the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths, www.hospitalinfection.org , a nonprofit campaign to improve hospital hygiene and procedures.


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This is just one, recent report on the quality of medical care at VA facilities versus private industry hospitals. There are literally HUNDREDS of other such reports published in the past 7 or 8 years.

I visit the James A. Haley VA Hospital in Tampa at least once or twice per month for scheduled care and physical therapy as well as doing volunteer work. And, I can honestly report that during the past six years since we moved back to this area, I have YET to speak with any current or former patient who has had anything but high praise to say about their treatment and care at this facility. This VA Hospital is the LARGEST and BUSIEST VA facility in the entire nation. It serves more than 1,000,000 veterans annually at their hospital and associated clinics in central Florida and has received countless awards from many prestigious Medical associations that are included in the private health care industry.

[Robert Ryan]

Geez man what a screw up. I hope he can sometype of settlement out of this.