In March 2023, a veteran patient passed away at a Phoenix Veterans Administration care facility, prompting several Arizona representatives to sign a letter urging the Department of Veterans Affairs to intervene.
Addressing Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough, Rep. Greg Stanton has requested an urgent briefing on the implementation of policy changes and training standards recommended by the OIG. Along with this, he also emphasized the need to ensure the availability of lifesaving equipment at the Phoenix VA.
Senators Mark Kelly and Kyrsten Sinema and Representatives Eli Crane, Debbie Lesko, Andy Biggs, Ruben Gallego, David Schweikert, Raul Grijalva, and Juan Ciscomani joined in signing the bipartisan letter.
According to the letter, a report by the VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) claimed that there was a postponement in providing vital life support to a patient who suffered a medical crisis while under the care of the facility.
The OIG report stated that it could not arrive at a definitive conclusion regarding whether a change in care would have yielded a different outcome given the patient’s condition.
According to the letter, the patient lost consciousness during a routine appointment, but the staff failed to administer CPR. Furthermore, the facility did not have an automated external defibrillator (AED) readily available. Due to these factors, local emergency services took 11 minutes to arrive, resulting in the patient’s untimely death two days later.
The OIG’s report has identified several reasons for the delay in emergency response, including ineffective rapid response, contradictory emergency procedures, insufficient CPR training, and the absence of an AED.
According to the letter, the Phoenix VA’s inappropriate responses are not an isolated incident but rather a part of a disturbing trend. The VA’s procedures have been found to be in contradiction with the standards set by the Veterans Health Administration, which is a matter of concern.
