Three veterans may have died due to misdiagnosis by an allegedly impaired pathologist at Fayetteville, Ark.-based Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks, The Joplin Globe reports.
The hospital is reviewing over 33,000 cases diagnosed by the pathologist, who had worked at the hospital since 2005 until he was removed from clinical care in October 2017 for allegedly being impaired. He was terminated in April.
It was the second time the pathologist was allegedly impaired on the job, the first being in March 2016 when he was placed in a treatment program and returned to clinical care in October 2016.
A team of external pathologists has reviewed 14,980 cases so far. Of these cases, 256 were classified as level 3, indicating major errors that require a change to the diagnosis and a new pathology report.
"It is our responsibility to take care of our veterans and also take care of our employees and regain trust in our system," said Kelvin Parks, interim director of the medical center. "I take this investigation very seriously and will continue to press on until all 33,806 cases have been adjudicated."