Officials: Doctor worked at Arkansas VA hospital while impaired; misdiagnoses found, including in

Officials: Doctor worked at Arkansas VA hospital while impaired; misdiagnoses found, including in case in which patient died


FAYETTEVILLE — At least one death appears to have resulted from a missed diagnosis by a veterans hospital pathologist who worked while impaired, according to the first findings in a review of almost 20,000 cases that will take months, Veterans Department administrators and members of the Arkansas congressional delegation said Monday.

"We are treating this like a national disaster," Kelvin L. Parks, interim medical director at the Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks, said during a Monday morning news conference.

The pathologist, whose name was withheld, was dismissed because of his impairment, Parks said. The doctor began work at the hospital in 2005 and was one of two pathologists at the center.

Thirty pathologists from around the state and region volunteered to review the impaired doctor's cases, he said. Pathologists who are not from the Veterans Department will review at least half the cases. The 30 pathologists will review the highest-risk cases first.

Read more: http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2018/jun/18/officials-doctor-worked-arkansas-va-hospital-while/