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1/25/2020 - Family members of an 89-year-old veteran who died at the Clarksburg VA Hospital in January 2018 have learned more information about his death and there are similarities to at least six other suspicious deaths at the facility.
According to Charleston attorney Tony O’Dell, who represents some of the families, the veteran was admitted to ICU at the Clarksburg hospital in January 2018. After showing some improvement, he was moved to floor 3A.
“It’s the night shift and he suffers a severe hypoglycemic event. The person of interest is all through his records. In fact, I believe she was as one-on-one sitter with him that night,” O’Dell said Friday.
The veteran was not a diabetic. O’Dell said his blood glucose level dropped to 27. He died a few days later.
The original cause of death was listed as a bleeding stroke but when reviewing the death investigators wanted to take another look. O’Dell said the body was exhumed last September and the cause of death was changed to undetermined. O’Dell believes insulin injections caused the man’s death like it has the other six veterans.
“The government knows, we know and the family knows the cause of death was a severe hypoglycemic event. The only thing that kept them from calling it a homicide was the inability to find the actual injection marks,” O’Dell said, adding the body had significantly decomposed before it was exhumed.
Meanwhile, several of the families of the veterans connected to the suspicious deaths are becoming more and more frustrated, according to O’Dell.
“It’s disturbing that we’re 19 months-post beginning of the investigation and really the only information that’s been provided is the information we’ve been able to gather ourselves. It is disturbing,” O’Dell said.
Federal prosecutors and the VA’s Office of Inspector General are continuing there investigations. O’Dell said there’s been a total lack of information.
“There’s nothing coming from the government on what the status is. We are we in terms of either the criminal investigation or the investigation into the hospital?”
The family of the 7th victim does not want the man identified.
“The family is very upset. They’ve been very upset from the beginning. This is a shock. I can tell you the families are becoming very agitated,” O’Dell said.
It’s been reported the person of interest initially was transferred to a desk job, and then was fired after a few months. She was accused of falsely claiming on her resume that she was certified as a nursing assistant.
- Metro News
BILL WOULD REQUIRE VA TO MAKE INFORMATION PUBLIC
1/24/2020 - Since early 2018, at least ten U.S. military veterans died while patients at the V-A Hospital in Clarksburg. They passed away from complications caused by unwarranted insulin injections, even though they were not diabetic.
Three of the deaths have been ruled homicides. All three of West Virginia’s U.S. House members have now sponsored a bill, that if approved, would force the V-A to make the details of the investigation public.
“It was a horrible thing what happened. It’s being investigated. We don’t want to let this investigation be buried away. We want it publicized. We want the families to be able to see it. We should be able to review it, make sure that it was done right, see what happened and how we can make sure this never happens again,” said Rep. Alex Mooney, (R) West Virginia – District 2.
“We’ve got to have our men and women that have been in harm’s way, they’ve got to have comfort that when they come to West Virginia, Clarksburg, or wherever that VA facility is, that they are going to be safe,” said Rep. David McKinley, (R) West Virginia – District 1.
In some of the cases, there were red flags and no one noticed or they ignored them. For example, in April 2018, three veterans died on three consecutive days, from insulin overdoses, yet no alarm bells were sounded as the VA requires when there are suspicious deaths. The new bill would implement more safeguards.
“The important things about passing a bill is making sure that it’s followed up and followed through. And often that doesn’t happen after a bill passes. But in this case, we need follow up and follow-through to make sure that none of these things ever occur again,” said Rep. Carol Miller, (R) West Virginia – District 3.
The House bill is similar to another veterans medical security and safety act introduced by Senators Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito.
People close to this case continue to tell us there is a person of interest. She is a former VA employee who worked on floor 3-A where all of the deaths occurred. She’s since been fired, but so far no criminal charges have been filed. | 
