A trove of internal documents obtained by USA TODAY Network shows the scope of problems at the Memphis Veterans Affairs hospital, one of the worst in the nation.
A veteran with diabetes and poor circulation checked into the Memphis VA Medical Center for a scan and possible repair of blood vessels in his right leg last year, but he ended up with a piece of plastic packaging that VA providers had mistakenly embedded in a critical artery.
Doctors didn’t discover the 10 inches of tubing — used by manufacturers to protect catheters during shipping and handling — until the veteran had to have the leg amputated three weeks later.
When they cut into his leg, they found a 3-inch segment, and after the procedure, they found another 7 inches in the amputated limb.
The error is one of a litany of patient safety issues at the Memphis hospital in recent years chronicled in a trove of internal documents obtained by the USA TODAY Network that provide a revealing glimpse of one of the worst of 168 VA hospitals in the country.
Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.usatoday.com
0 Comments