Tag: Tony O’Dell

Sixth Lawsuit Filed In Deaths At West Virginia VA Hospital

A sixth lawsuit has been filed involving the sudden deaths of patients at a West Virginia veterans hospital where a former nursing assistant admitted to intentionally killing seven people with fatal doses of insulin. A federal lawsuit was filed Wednesday in the July 2018 death of Russell R. Posey Sr. at the Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center in Clarksburg.

Charleston attorney Tony O’Dell filed the lawsuit on behalf of Posey’s son and daughter, who are co-executors of his estate. The elder Posey, 92, served as a chief petty officer in the U.S. Navy during World War II.

The lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages, is the latest to allege a widespread system of failures at the hospital. Similar lawsuits have been filed in the deaths of five other veterans at the hospital in January, March, April and June of 2018.

The lawsuit said the onset of Posey’s severe, unexplained hypoglycemia was “similar to the pattern of events” that occurred with other patients.

Fired hospital nursing assistant Reta Mays pleaded guilty last month to intentionally killing seven patients with wrongful insulin injections. Mays, 46, faces up to life in prison for each of seven counts of second-degree murder. No sentencing date has been set.

Mays admitted at a plea hearing to purposely killing the veterans, injecting them with unprescribed insulin while she worked overnight shifts at the hospital in northern West Virginia between 2017 and 2018. Her motive is still unclear. U.S. Attorney Bill Powell said authorities did not receive a “satisfactory response” to questions about the reasoning behind her actions.

It is not clear whether Mays admitted a connection to Posey’s death. But in addition to her second-degree murder pleas, she also pleaded guilty to one count of assault with intent to commit murder involving the death of “veteran R.R.P.” — Posey’s initials.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Fred B. Westfall Jr. has said in court filings in response to some of the lawsuits that Mays acted outside the scope of her employment, the federal government should not liable for her criminal conduct and that the suits should be dismissed.

The VA is the government’s second-largest department, responsible for 9 million military veterans. The agency’s former director was fired in 2018 in the wake of a bruising ethics scandal and a mounting rebellion within the agency. Robert Wilkie took over as Veterans Affairs secretary in July 2018.
 

Attorney: Lawsuit Planned Over VA Hospital Death In West Virginia

An attorney representing the family of a patient who died at a Veterans Affairs hospital in West Virginia says he plans to sue over what he believes is the man’s suspicious death from a wrongful insulin injection.

Charleston attorney Tony O’Dell said a notice of a pending lawsuit was filed this week with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in the death of John William Hallman. The 87-year-old Navy veteran died at the Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center in Clarksburg last year.

The notice said Hallman was given a shot of insulin “he did not need and for which no medical order was placed.” It said the shot caused his blood sugar to spike, leading to his death.

The Exponent Telegram of Clarksburg first reported the notice.

The notice said Hallman’s death “is considered a homicide based upon the pattern of events leading to his death, although his body is not available for autopsy.”

Federal prosecutors are probing the deaths of up to 11 patients. Attorneys representing the families of men who died say at least two of the deaths have been ruled homicides, with both veterans dying from wrongful insulin injections.

U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia has said he spoke directly with Attorney General William Barr about the deaths and told Barr in a letter that he has “grave concerns over the pace of the investigation.”

The Democrat said VA officials had told him a “person of interest” was no longer in contact with any veterans at the facility. The VA inspector general told Manchin’s office about the opening of a medical and criminal investigation of the hospital in July 2018, after at least nine patients were diagnosed with unexplained low blood sugar, the senator said.

O’Dell’s notice also mentions a “person of interest” who was hired as a certified nursing assistant and was working at the time of Hallman’s death. The notice said the assistant had “documented involvement during the hospitalization while critically low levels of glucose were recorded.” The notice doesn’t name that worker.

In the deaths that attorneys said have been ruled homicides, 82-year-old former Army Sgt. Felix Kirk McDermott was wrongly injected with a fatal dose of insulin at the hospital in April 2018, according to a notice of a pending lawsuit.

An attorney representing the family of George Nelson Shaw Sr., an 81-year-old retired member of the Air Force, said he too had died at the hospital in April 2018 from a wrongful insulin injection.

Bill Powell, the U.S. attorney in West Virginia, has said the investigation is a “top priority.”

The VA is the government’s second-largest department, responsible for 9 million military veterans.

Third Family Comes Forward in Probe of VA Hospital Deaths

A third family has come forward in an investigation of multiple suspicious patient deaths at a Veterans Affairs hospital in West Virginia.

Attorney Tony O’Dell says Thursday he’s representing the family of Navy veteran John Hallman after the 87-year-old died last year at the Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center in Clarksburg.

Federal prosecutors are probing the deaths of up to 11 patients at the facility. Attorneys representing the families of men who died say at least two of the deaths have been ruled homicides, with both veterans dying from wrongful insulin injections.

O’Dell says Hallman died suddenly after his blood sugar spiked, indicating another wrongful insulin injection.

Separately, the VA inspector general this week confirmed an investigation of multiple sexual assaults at another VA facility in West Virginia.

 

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