Widow Settles Medical Negligence Lawsuit against U.S. Government

Recently, a widow who sued the U.S. government over the death of her husband settled her lawsuit for almost $1 million.

According to documents filed, the widow's husband, Robert Shank III of Kentucky died in Marion VA Medical Center hospital after receiving gallbladder surgery in 2007.  His wife, Katrina, sued the government in 2008 because she felt that medical negligence led to the death of her husband.  She alleged that the government failed to adequately check the background of the surgeon operating on her husband.  The surgeon's name is Dr. Jose Veizaga-Mendez, and Mrs. Shank claimed the government was negligent when they hired him to work as a surgeon at the VA Medical center.

According to Mrs. Shank's attorney, Dr. Stanley Heller, the cause of death "was a combination of negligence in the way he did the surgery and post-operative care, and institutional negligence for allowing him to practice there."

The lawsuit was settled between Mrs. Shank and the government on November 13th. 

A spokeswoman for the hospital, located 15 miles east of Carbondale, did not return a call Monday afternoon. The facility serves veterans from parts of Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky.

Other reports by the medical inspector of the Veterans Heath Administration and inspector general in the Department of Veteran Affairs have revealed that substandard care at the same hospital left 9 patients dead and 34 other patients seriously injured.  The injuries and deaths occurred during a 2 year period that ended in September of 2007.  10 of the 34 people that sustained injuries died at a later time, but investigators were unable to determine if the substandard care they received from the hospital caused their deaths.

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