Back in April, the Department of Veterans Affairs released the results of its investigation into cancer deaths that occurred as the result of delayed gastrointestinal treatment.
The report found that none of the deaths occurred at either the James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital in Tampa or the C.W. Bill Young VA Medical Center in St. Petersburg, but that two patients at the Young center, then known as Bay Pines, and one at Haley had been informed that they were harmed as the result of their care.
A federal wrongful death lawsuit filed Thursday in the Middle District of Florida by attorney Alan Wagner claims that Navy veteran William Halverson died of colon cancer on Feb. 6, 2013 as the result of delays in treatment at the Young center. And that before he died, hospital officials informed Halverson that their care had been negligent.
Halverson, who enlisted in 1968 and was honorably discharged three years later after working with a helicopter support unit in Subic Bay, Philippines, was 64.
The suit was filed on behalf of Halverson’s wife, Jill, daughter Alison, 25 and sons David, 23, Nicholas, who turns 20 Oct. 19.
Officials from the Young center, citing the litigation, declined to say whether Halverson was one of the patients notified that they were harmed by VA care. Officials from the Young center and the VA Sunshine Healthcare Network, which oversees VA medical facilities in Florida, south Georgia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands declined comment about the lawsuit for the same reason. They referred the request for information to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Tampa, which also declined comment.
The discovery of Halverson’s cancer “was delayed unreasonably by the defendants’ negligent failure to timely inform Mr. Halverson” of the 2008 positive results of a test called a fecal occult blood test, also known as an FOBT, according to the lawsuit.
Sometime around July 28, 2008, Halverson went to Bay Pines for his annual checkup from Dr. Lawrence Gaulkin, where he received the FOBT, according to the lawsuit.
The test came back with one result showing positive and two showing negative results, according to the suit.
A fecal occult blood test is considered positive if blood is detected in stool samples, according to mayoclinic.org, which might require additional testing such as a colonoscopy to locate the source of bleeding. Halverson was not informed by anyone at the hospital of the positive test result, nor did anyone “discuss, recommend or perform a colonoscopy or any other cancer screening for Mr. Halverson,” according to the suit.
Nearly a year later, in April 2009, Halverson again went back to Bay Pines for another annual checkup from Gaulkin and again, no mention was made of the positive test result and no one discussed, recommended or performed a colonoscopy or other cancer screening, according to the suit.
The same for his annual checkup in April 2011 by Gaulkin.
But sometime around Aug. 16, 2011, Halverson went back to Bay Pines and saw a different doctor, who reviewed the records and saw that Halverson had a positive blood stool test with no follow-up cancer screening “performed as required by the prevailing professional standard of care,” according to the suit. “Because of the earlier, positive FOBT test and because Mr. Halverson was then past 50 years old and had never before had a colonoscopy,” the new doctor advised Halverson to “undergo a colonoscopy and schedule one promptly.”
A few weeks later, on Sept. 8, 2011, Halverson had the colonoscopy, which revealed “tissue suspicious for cancer.” After a biopsy, Halverson “was advised he had a large, cancerous lesion in his colon that needed to be removed surgically.”
A month after that, Halverson received even worse news.
“His cancer had metastasized and spread to other parts of his body,” according to the suit.
Halverson had the colon tumor removed, requiring 16 days of hospitalization, according to the suit, and another six weeks of home nursing care. In January 2012, Halverson began five months of chemotherapy, according to the suit, but despite the treatment, the cancer spread to his liver.
“By August 2012, the cancer had spread to such a degree that Mr. Halverson’s Bay Pines physicians advised him his condition was terminal and that he had three to 12 months to live.”
On Dec. 19, 2012, hospital officials informed Halverson “that its care and treatment of him had been negligent,” according to the suit. They then gave him a form to fill out where he could file a claim for damage, injury or death.
Halverson and his survivors submitted that form to the VA on January 29, 2013, according the suit.
He died eight days later.
On May 17, 2013, and again on Dec. 12, 2013, Halverson’s survivors resubmitted the form, but the VA “has failed to finally deny or make final disposition of the plaintiff’s claim within six months after filing” the form, according to the suit.
The plaintiffs are arguing that Halverson’s widow suffered pain, suffering and mental anguish and the loss of support, services and companionship as the result the hospital’s negligence, and was forced to pay funeral expenses. The children, according to the suit, lost fatherly companionship, protection, instruction and guidance as well as support and services including the cost of college education.
The estate lost earnings, prospective net accumulations, medical and funeral expenses and the fair value of custodial care.
In April, the VA reported to Congress the results of its investigation into patient deaths and injuries as the result of treatment deaths nationwide.
The report found that three veterans died and nine others were injured as the result of delays in treatment for gastrointestinal cancers in the Sunshine Healthcare Network.
The report stated that while none of the deaths was the result of actions at either Haley or Young, there were two “institutional disclosures” at the Bay Pines facility and one in Tampa, according to the report. That means that patients or their representatives were notified that the veterans were harmed during their care. The report did not provide any specifics about the level of harm, nor did it list any patient names.
The deaths and injuries in the Sunshine Healthcare Network were from 301,000 consultations made between 2010 and 2012, Joleen Clark, director of the Sunshine Healthcare Network, told The Tribune in April.
Nationwide, there were 17 other deaths and 44 other patient injuries found during a VA review initiated after deaths were discovered in Georgia and South Carolina.
PHOTO A federal wrongful death lawsuit filed Thursday claims Navy veteran William Halverson died of colon cancer on Feb. 6, 2013 as the result of delays in treatment at the C.W.Young VA Health Center at Bay Pines. FILE. JAY CONNER/STAFF