Malpractice claims against veterans hospitals on the rise

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http://kdhnews.com/military/malpractice-claims-against-veterans-hospitals-on-the-rise/article_aabc936a-4ceb-11e3-87c4-0019bb30f31a.html

Malpractice claims against veterans hospitals on the rise
Posted: Thursday, November 14, 2013 4:30 am
By Craig Schneider / The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

ATLANTA — As thousands of soldiers returned home from overseas in recent years, American taxpayers paid more not just for veterans’ medical care but for a surge in malpractice claims against veterans hospitals.

Settlements and court judgments cost taxpayers $845 million since 2003 and reached a high of $98 million last year, according to an exclusive analysis by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Cox Media Group, the parent company of the AJC and Atlanta’s Channel 2 Action News.

Some members of Congress and government watchdogs said the Department of Veterans Affairs isn’t doing enough to prevent medical errors. They said the agency’s culture lacks accountability and incentives to improve.

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Critics decry the VA practice of awarding bonuses to some doctors and administrators even if they were implicated in medical mistakes. In Atlanta, a former head of the VA hospital received $65,000 in bonuses over a four-year span, a time when mismanagement of the hospital was linked to the deaths of three mental health patients.