OBAMACARE WILL APPLY THE RIGOROUS STANDARDS OF THE VA TO YOU !

OBAMACARE WILL APPLY THE RIGOROUS STANDARDS OF THE VA TO YOU !

WASHINGTON — Two psychiatric patients at a veterans facility in Brockton received no regular evaluations of their condition for years, part of a “troubling pattern of deficient patient care” that federal investigators say they have confirmed at veterans health care facilities nationwide.

One of the neglected patients at the Brockton Community Living Center who had been admitted for “significant and chronic mental health issues” was living in the 106-bed facility for eight years before he received his first psychiatric evaluation, investigators reported.

The other unidentified patient, although he was classified as 100 percent mentally disabled due to his military service, had only a single “psychiatric note” placed in his medical file between 2005 and 2013.

……. the agency found that the VA, after conducting its own investigations that corroborated the allegations, nevertheless insisted there was no impact on patient well-being.

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The government-run VA health care system is the largest integrated health care system in the country, treating more than six million patients each year.

The Office of Special Counsel found numerous cases across the country that suggest serious medical malpractice is not unusual.

For example, the agency corroborated a case in Alabama that found old notes were copied and classified as “current readings” in the files of more than 1,200 patients, “likely resulting in inaccurate patient health information being recorded.”

In Buffalo, medical staff incorrectly labeled sterile surgical instruments; in San Juan, investigators found that “nursing staff neglected elderly residents by failing to assist with essential daily activities, such as bathing, eating, and drinking.”

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The first patient arrived at the facility in 2003 “with significant and chronic mental health issues,” according to Lerner’s letter to Obama. “Yet, his first comprehensive psychiatric evaluation did not occur until 2011, more than eight years after he was admitted, when he was assessed by the whistle-blower. No medication assessments or modifications occurred until the 2011 consultation.”

The other patient, described as “a veteran with a 100 percent service-connected psychiatric condition,” was a resident of the facility from 2005 to 2013.

“In that time, he had only one psychiatric note written is his medical chart, in 2012, when he was first examined by the whistle-blower, more than seven years after he was admitted,” the agency found.

The response from the Boston VA indicates patients also may have been overmedicated. A spokeswoman said that officials have already taken steps to address the specific allegations about the Brockton facility, including instituting “regular psychiatric consultation services, staff education for all team members, use of alternatives to potent psychiatric medications whenever possible, and regular medication reviews.”