FAYETTEVILLE — About 80 veterans and family members were told Monday at a town-hall-style meeting that pathologists from as far away as the Air Force Academy in Colorado, have joined a review of 33,806 cases analyzed by an impaired pathologist at the Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks.
So far, eight of the 7,482 cases reviewed showed a missed diagnosis, according to interim medical center director Kelvin M. Parks. Parks presided at the meeting, the second such meeting since the initial June 18 news conference that announced the problem. At least one misdiagnosed veteran is believed to have died because of test results being misinterpreted, according to the initial announcement of the problem June 18.
Family members of veterans who died after treatment at the Ozark system are distraught after receiving letters that those cases are under review, Darrell Darner of Gen-
try told Parks. Darner, who’s a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, had his diagnosis of cancer missed and had to undergo reconstructive surgery on his nose. He asked Parks to provide counseling to those anxious family members. Parks assured him the system would.
The 33,806 cases involve 19,794 veterans, some of whom had more than one test, Parks told the crowd.
Administrators expect pathologists to finish the review by Dec. 31, thanks in large part to a new agreement signed with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences to provide nine more pathologists. Another contract is under negotiation with a university-based system in another state, Parks said. That contract should be announced soon. No pathologists from the Ozarks system are participating, but pathologists from other systems in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs are, he said. A final report will be made public in January.
The review began after
administrators discovered a pathologist at the system’s hospital in Fayetteville had tested samples while impaired, administrators said at a June 18 news conference. The pathologist, Dr. Robert Morris Levy of Fayetteville, denies he worked impaired.
The cases under review are prioritized by risk, Parks has said. Tests for the most serious possible diagnoses, such as prostate biopsies for cancer, will be reviewed first. Other risky conditions earmarked for priority are CT-guided needle biopsies, breast biopsies and endoscopies.
Bringing UAMS pathologists and others into a full-time review will speed the process up considerably, Parks said.
Levy was fired in April, according to administrators. He had been suspended in March 2016 for being impaired, but he returned to work that October after counseling and after a check of his work found no errors at the time.
Levy was again taken off clinical work in October 2017 after what the hospital de-
scribed as a second instance of working while impaired. His dismissal in April came after a personnel review.
The Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks serves veterans in 23 counties in Northwest Arkansas, southwest Missouri and eastern Oklahoma.
Levy confirmed in an earlier interview that he worked while impaired with alcohol in 2016 but said he didn’t work while impaired after that. The system won’t say if Levy is the pathologist involved because it’s a personnel matter, spokesman Wanda Shull has said.
Most of the audience’s questions Monday regarded how anyone in the pathologist’s position of responsibility could work impaired without anyone noticing or taking action. Parks told the crowd the system’s handling of the matter is the subject of a separate investigation by the federal Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General. There is no timeline on the inspector general’s report, he said.
Metro on 08/21/2018