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TAMPA VA APOLOGIZES AFTER VETERAN DIES --
During
his recovery from cancer surgery, doctors put Jim
Szamlewski on oxygen. But the Tampa VA discharged
him without the thing most essential to his
survival.
|
Jim Szamlewski |
Journalist William Levesque, a true friend of
veterans, writes regular articles for the St. Petersburg Times. For
more articles by William Levesque, click here...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/sessearc
h.php?q=levesque&op=and
Story here...
http://www.tampabay.co
m/news/military/veterans/article903950.ece
Story below:
Your comments accepted at bottom of page.
-------------------------
Haley: Sorry for vet's death
By William R. Levesque, Times Staff Writer
TAMPA — During his recovery from cancer surgery, doctors put Jim
Szamlewski on oxygen to help keep him alive.
But they discharged him from the James A. Haley VA Medical Center without
the thing most essential to his survival: oxygen.
For up to six agonizing hours on Sept. 5, the 75-year-old Army veteran
struggled for breath as his condition deteriorated, his wife said. The
oxygen finally arrived. But Szamlewski's heart stopped 12 hours after his
discharge. Though it was restarted, his brain had been irreparably
damaged.
Szamlewski, of Land O'Lakes, died with the removal of life support on
Sept. 9.
His is the third case detailed by the St. Petersburg Times in recent
months in which a veteran died after either being misdiagnosed or
discharged without vital supplies or equipment.
After a Times inquiry, the Department of Veterans Affairs regional
director requested a review of the Szamlewski case by the agency's
independent watchdog, the Office of Medical Inspector.
Officials at Haley, one of the nation's busiest veterans hospitals,
declined to comment on Friday outside of a brief statement. They have
steadfastly maintained care at Haley is excellent.
"It just don't seem right," said Szamlewski's widow, Marie. "I just don't
understand why they didn't give it to him. Maybe my story can help
somebody else to know they've got to stay on the VA every minute."
 Saying
that Haley valued transparency, hospital doctors and administrators
apologized on Friday during a meeting with the widow — a meeting Haley
frantically scheduled after the Times asked about the case.
The hospital also noted, Marie Szamlewski said, that Haley failed to send
her husband home with a separate device to suction saliva from his mouth
or throat.
Haley would not make anyone at the hospital available for an interview,
including Dr. Edward Cutolo, hospital chief of staff, who met with
Szamlewski (pronounced ZAM-LEW-SKI) and her daughter on Friday.
Calling the case a "serious and tragic circumstance," Haley said in a
one-paragraph statement that it had conducted an internal review "to take
any action necessary to prevent further occurrences of this nature."
Neither in the statement nor, according to Szamlewski's wife, during the
meeting did Haley acknowledge that it was responsible for the death.
Jim Szamlewski was a retired carpenter with a wide circle of friends who
liked to hunt and fish. He was a veteran who, his wife said, never had any
complaint with the care the VA provided.
A smoker and drinker, Szamlewski suffered serious health problems as he
aged. Part of his lung was removed because of cancer. On Aug. 28, Haley
doctors removed his larynx due to cancer.
Doctors never said he was terminal, his wife said, though she said he was
clearly very sick.
When Marie Szamlewski visited her husband of 34 years on Sept. 5, she was
surprised to be told he was being discharged.
Marie Szamlewski, 73, said she had yet to be given lessons in her
husband's care, from administering drugs to cleaning his throat wound.
She walked out to her car to get her husband's clothes. As she returned,
she was surprised to see a nurse had taken her husband, wearing just
pajamas, outside in a wheelchair.
Szamlewski said she saw a bottle with her husband and assumed it was his
oxygen. But when she got him home, she discovered it was just a water
bottle.
"He could have died in the car ride," Marie Szamlewski said.
Notes taken by a nurse who visited the home confirm the absence of oxygen
and Jim Szamlewski's "extremely apprehensive" state.
About the time they got home, a private company hired by the VA called to
say it was on the way with the oxygen. It arrived about 7 p.m., or six
hours after the hospital discharge.
A little after 1 a.m., Szamlewski's heart stopped beating. Paramedics
revived Szamlewski, but it was too late.
"They just dropped the ball," said Elizabeth Messer, 53, of Dade City,
Marie's daughter from a first marriage.
The family said the VA apologized profusely, but only after the newspaper
began asking about the case.
Days after the death, a VA worker called and asked Marie if the agency
could have done anything differently in her husband's treatment.
"I told him they should have given my husband oxygen when he went home,"
Szamlewski said.
The VA employee, she said, hung up on her.
William R. Levesque can be reached at
levesque@sptimes.com or at
(813) 269-5306.
-------------------------
posted by Larry Scott
Founder and Editor
VA Watchdog dot Org
-------------------------
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