An armed forces medical examiner ruled a retired Air Force veteran's death a homicide, the second such case identified amid a series of 11 suspicious deaths at the Clarksburg, W.Va.-based Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center, according to USA Today.
George Nelson Shaw Sr. was admitted to the hospital in March 2018 with low blood pressure and dehydration. He initially responded well to treatment but suddenly fell gravely ill when his blood sugar dropped, and he died in April. The sudden nature of Mr. Shaw's death prompted his family to order an autopsy, which concluded Mr. Shaw had died of heart failure.
The following winter, federal investigators notified Mr. Shaw's family his death may have been a homicide. A second autopsy found four injection sites testing positive for insulin on Mr. Shaw's body, even though the veteran had no history of diabetes or insulin prescriptions. The medical examiner concluded the insulin had killed Mr. Shaw.
The ruling marks the second homicide identified at the VA hospital, after the death of Retired Sgt. Felix Kirk McDermott was also declared a homicide by insulin injection following an autopsy in October. Authorities are investigating a "person of interest" in the case, according to the office of Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia. Nine other deaths at the hospital are also suspected homicides.
"Immediately upon discovering these serious allegations, Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center leadership brought them to the attention of VA's inspector general while putting safeguards in place to ensure the safety of each and every one of our patients," the hospital told Becker's in an email. The person of interest no longer works at the hospital.