Take charge of your medical care

#Middlebury #MedicalCare #VA #Veterans

VETERANS POST
By Freddy Groves

The Veterans Administration Office of Inspector General has been busy. As always, their focus is on identifying problems that cause harm to veterans.

For example, in one VA medical center there were concerns about the care given by a dermatologist on staff. Specifically, there were 48 instances where biopsies weren’t done quickly, which allowed cancers to grow and spread. And abnormal test results weren’t communicated, which delayed treatment. And the dermatologist documented procedures that weren’t actually done. And specialists weren’t called in. And inadequate treatment was given for certain cancers. And the dermatologist had been in the habit of copying and pasting previous notes from one appointment to the next, which meant that new information wasn’t added to patient files. And, and, and … so many instances of deficiency in care, all by one dermatologist. This went on from 2021 to 2023.

The supervisors weren’t let off the hook in the OIG report. During performance reviews, they rated the dermatologist as “unsatisfactory” but focused on tardiness problems instead of big concerns like not actually doing biopsies. Instead of bouncing the dermatologist out the door, they decided to recommend nonrenewal of clinical privileges, which allowed the dermatologist to keep working with patients.

And (it just keeps getting better and better) senior staff claimed not to know about what was going on despite continued reporting by staff of their concerns and the dermatologist having been given two unsatisfactory reviews. Further, they didn’t follow policy and report the dermatologist to the state licensing board.

Enter the VAOIG – in response to allegations of deficiencies in care – and patient records were finally reviewed, including 13 additional records given to the OIG. What the OIG found was grim, especially with cancer diagnoses.

If you have a medical concern, be sure that it’s addressed. If a test or biopsy is done and no one calls you, get on the phone to them in seven days and insist on knowing the result. Don’t trust that “no news is good news.”

© 2025 King Features Synd., Inc.