U.S. Government Doctor Botches Surgery, Mutilates Patient

ARLINGTON, TEXAS – Twenty-year old U.S. Airman, Colton Read checked into David Grant Medical Center at Travis Air Force Base near Sacramento, California for what was supposed to be the routine removal of his gallbladder. However, shortly after he was taken in for surgery, the government surgeon mistakenly cut through his aortic valve, sending nurses scrambling to procure emergency pints of blood. Even more disconcerting, the negligent doctor then waited an additional seven and a half hours to facilitate a move of Airman Read to UC Davis, the closest state run hospital with a vascular surgeon on staff.

As a consequence of the delay coupled with the large loss of blood, surgeons were then forced to amputate both of Airman Read’s legs. Moreover, with Airman Read still under intensive care, doctors are now unable to perform the original gallbladder surgery for fear of infection.

Nevertheless, the insult and pain suffered by the Read’s at the hands of the government doctors does not end with the mutilation of yet another veteran. Despite the government surgeon acknowledging the error was his, the Read’s will be unable to recover any damages whatsoever from the Federal government.

Airman Read and all active military are prohibited from seeking any type of remedy through the courts due to what is known as the “Feres Doctrine”. The doctrine is a result of the 1950 Supreme Court ruling in the matter of Feres v. United States¹, 340 U.S. 135. The ruling found that the U.S. Government could not be held liable by members of the armed forces for damages or wrongful death/injury at the hands of another agent of government during the regular course of their duty. The Supreme Court based their ruling on the common law concept of “sovereign immunity”, whereby a state cannot commit a legal wrong and is thus immune from prosecution.

Moreover, the egregious butchering of Airman Read is not an isolated incident within the halls occupied by government doctors of the Veterans Administration. Dr. Jose Veizaga-Mendez² had both his Illinois and Massachusetts medical licenses suspended only after he was found to be directly involved with the deaths of at least nine patients under his care. Consequently, the Marion, Illinois VA Medical Center was forced to halt all surgeries upon the discovery of the gross negligence.

In addition, government run VA hospitals in Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida have come under harsh criticism for using tainted colonoscopy³ equipment during the procedure thereby exposing veterans to hepatitis and AIDS. Further, a VA prostate cancer center located in Philadelphia misplaced the bulk of the chemotherapy “seeds” into a patient’s healthy bladder instead of the intended target of the patient’s prostate⁴. However even more alarming, federal investigators then sought to cover up government Doctor Gary D. Kao’s mistakes by fraudulently altering patient records.

As the President continues his push for a “government option” hoisted upon the rest of the population, the abhorrent past and continuing track record of the Veterans Administration coupled with the tort immunity currently buried in H.R. 3200 for insurance companies are legitimate issues of concern. The aforementioned, seriously call into question just exactly how the government will provide a “quality” option for all Americans when it has demonstrated repeatedly its glaring incompetence and negligence for the 3% of the population served by the Veterans Administration.

Source(s): ¹Feres v. United States¹, 340 U.S. 135 (1950) • ²NPR Report: “Poor Care at VA Hospital Caused 9 Deaths” • ³CBS News “VA: 16 Patients From Clinics Infected” • ⁴New York Times “At V.A. Hospital, a Rogue Cancer Unit” •