Department has formally requested an investigation into the Palo Alto VA, where 23 glaucoma patients experienced significant vision loss while receiving treatment.

NOTE from Larry Scott, VA Watchdog dot Org ... There are three previous articles about the Palo Alto VA's botched glaucoma treatments ...

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State consumer affairs department requests probe of Palo Alto VA

By Jessica Bernstein-Wax
Daily News Staff Writer

http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_13786432

The state consumer affairs department has formally requested an investigation into the VA Palo Alto Health Care System, where 23 glaucoma patients experienced significant vision loss while receiving treatment.

California Department of Consumer Affairs Director Brian Stiger made the request in response to an administrative petition the California Academy of Eye Surgeons and Physicians, the American Glaucoma Society and the California Medical Association filed in September with his agency.

"As the events at the VA hospital do concern consumers, I am formally requesting that the Board of Optometry, together with the Medical Board of California, investigate the occurrences at the Palo Alto Veterans Affairs Hospital regarding the eye care provided to veterans, including the role of optometrists and physicians in that care," Stiger wrote in a Nov. 10 letter addressed to Dr. James Ruben, president of the California Academy of Eye Surgeons and Physicians.

"To the extent permitted by existing state and federal law, I am also requesting that those boards make public the findings of the investigation," Stiger said.

However, Stiger rejected the medical groups' request that a new state law expanding optometrists' ability to treat glaucoma and prescribe medication be put on hold until the investigation concludes.

The VA initiated a probe earlier this year after ophthalmologists reported that a 62-year-old male veteran with glaucoma went blind while being treated in the optometry department.

At issue is whether the optometry department failed to follow VA policy requiring it to consult with medical doctors on glaucoma cases, possibly costing the 23 patients their vision, VA officials said at the time.

As part of the probe, the VA informed seven patients that doctors might have mismanaged their treatment. The VA has since made a similar disclosure to an eighth patient and has ordered the optometry department to report to ophthalmology, spokeswoman Kerri Childress said in September.

"It is understandable that people are concerned — we certainly were," Childress said in an e-mail Friday. "However, VA Palo Alto has made all the changes necessary to ensure our veterans with glaucoma receive the best care possible."

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TOPICS: veterans, veterans' benefits, VA, Department of Veterans' Affairs, Palo Alto, glaucoma, blindness