VA watchdog confirms patients died after receiving poor care

The Washington Post, by Dan Lamothe:  The Department of Veterans Affairs’ watchdog confirmed Tuesday that numerous veterans died after receiving poor care in a VA hospital in Phoenix, Ariz., but stopped short of substantiating widely reported allegations that at least 40 veterans died while awaiting care.

The VA inspector general’s office said in a report that it reviewed the records of 3,409 veterans and found 45 cases where patients experienced “unacceptable and troubling lapses” in care. Of those, 28 experienced long delays in care, and six died, the report said. Seventeen other patients experienced care that “deviated from the expected standard independent of delays,” and 14 of them died, the IG found.   To read entire article, click here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2014/08/26/va-watchdog-confirms-patients-die