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MARION VA OFFICIALS EXPLAIN HIRING PROCESS --
This while hearing is delayed for doctor
under fire in hospital deaths.
Marion VA
For more on the ongoing problems at the Marion
VA, use the VA Watchdog search engine...click here...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/ses
search.php?q=marion&op=and
We have two articles.
First story here...
http://www.southern
illinoisan.com/articles/2007/10
/04/top/21730229.txt
Story below:
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VA officials explain their hiring process
BY JOHN D. HOMAN
the southern
MARION - In response to concerns about the hiring of a controversial
surgeon, new VA Medical Center Director Peter McBrady said Thursday
there are several factors to consider in employing physicians.
McBrady spoke in the wake of nine reported deaths at the Marion VA
hospital between October of 2006 and March of 2007. Complex surgeries
performed by Dr. Jose Veizaga-Mendez are being reviewed as part of an
ongoing VA investigation of the Marion hospital.
McBrady said Marion has a professional standards board consisting of a
group of practicing physicians at the hospital who review each candidate
for hire.
The applicant's past employment is checked out. The state licensing
board contributes information as to whether the applicant is licensed to
work in more than one state. Past clinical priviliges are a reference
point, as is the National Practitioner Data Bank, which relates any
information on tort or malpractice claims. There are also personal
clinical references that factor into the hiring process.
"Most of the information we get on physician candidates comes from
outside sources," McBrady said. "That allows us to make a balanced and
fair decision."
Although he would not speak about Veizaga-Mendez by name, McBrady did
say there was no evidence that would set off any alarms with the Marion
contingent when the physician was reviewed. At the time of the hire, he
held an active license to practice medicine in both Massachusetts and
Illinois.
When Veizaga-Mendez relinquished his Massachusetts license six months
into his stay at Marion, there was no prior or pending disciplinary
action on the books against him.
Instead of reacting to the Inspector General's full report when it is
completed, McBrady said the hospital is taking a proactive approach.
"We're putting together what I call a coordinating committee with an
action plan to implement the best practices here at the hospital," he
said. "We want to have as much frontline (nurses, respiratory therapists
and clerks, for example) input to make sure that we provide safe,
quality care for our patients."
Dr. Bill Patterson, new chief of staff at the Marion facility, said it's
that input that will allow the surgical unit to grow into a more
productive unit.
"We also want to hear from our patients and their families," he said.
"Our staff wants to move forward, too."
Concerning the higher-than-normal death rate, McBrady said there was
little comment that could be made until the investigation is complete.
Patterson said the Marion facility received a favorable review in Fiscal
Year 2006, which ended Sept. 30 of last year. That review was based on
nationwide statistical data compiled by the National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program with the VA, which compared actual deaths to
projected or expected deaths at a hospital the size of Marion.
McBrady said repairing the image of the Marion facility is indeed a
challenge, but one that employees there are willing to tackle.
"We plan to share with employees the issues of staffing and support
services. Whatever we can do to improve our facility, we will do."
john.homan@thesouthern.com
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Second story here...
http://www.wqad.com
/Global/story.asp?S=7174537&nav=1sW7
Story below:
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Hearing delayed for doctor scrutinized in VA
hospital deaths
Associated Press
MARION, Ill. (AP) - A surgeon being investigated after a string of
patient deaths at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Marion will keep his
Illinois medical license at least for another two months.
A spokesman for the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional
Regulation says a hearing on Doctor Jose Veizaga-Mendez's license was to
have been held this month.
But Sue Hofer says an administrative law judge, without specifying why,
pushed that hearing back to December Tenth.
Veizaga-Mendez surrendered his Massachusetts medical license last year
after that state's licensing board accused him of "grossly substandard
care" that resulted in patient deaths and complications.
He resigned from the Marion hospital in August, after an apparent spike
in patient deaths there. The hospital has suspended inpatient surgeries.
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Larry Scott --
