Vet locked inside VA hospital
I saw this early this morning on Fox about Jeff Duck, a veteran who had gone to the VA hospital to get his prescriptions filled. He was kept waiting for three hours, and then he noticed that everyone in the hospital was gone and he was locked in with an alarm going off;
When he tried to leave, he triggered an alarm so he called 911. Duck took some video of the strange situation with his cell phone before authorities arrived to let him out.
Duck had been at the clinic for three hours trying to see his doctor for a refill of his pain medication.
Duck later questioned how the VA is going to handle its much broader problems if it can’t get things like this in order.
The VA has since apologized to Duck and vowed to change its procedures “to ensure that this does not happen again.”
Category: Veterans' Affairs Department
Figures. Get locked inside a VA facility and still…no one there to help you. Irony at its best.
Sparks, it happened at a VA clinic – not a hospital. VA clinics are generally not staffed 24/7.
Guess I missed the big picture. My bad.
It couldn’t have happened a VA clinic, or CBOC, the VA DOES NOT allow clinics and CBOCs to fill prescription’s.
I can see that happening if he were in the latrine when they closed up for the day. IMO, it’s not exactly reasonable to expect a place to do a “latrine check” at closing time.
What I don’t understand is why he appears to have stayed there alone for a protracted period without attempting to locate someone and ask what was going on. Seems to me that looking at the desk and seeing no one there for 10-15 min would be a tip-off that something wasn’t quite right. Well, that and the fact that it had to have been well past 5PM, too.
other articles say he arrived at 1PM and triggered the alarm at 4.
Links, please. The clinic in question is in Orange City, FL. It’s operating hours are listed as 0800-1630 daily. So I have to say I find a claim he was “the only person in the clinic” at 1600 on a Monday somewhat suspect for any Monday that’s not a Federal holiday.
http://www.orlando.va.gov/visitors/sanford.asp
Whoever was on building security or custodian duty should have made a building check beings as they are usually the last out. Regardless.
It happens at non-VA clinics, too.
Some poor lady went for an MRI scan a couple of years ago. The techs left her alone in the MRI room, and just plain forgot about her, didn’t tell her when it was done, and she was there, locked in, overnight.
At least she had a comfortable place to sleep.
/*runs* 😀 😀 😀
Dude, have you ever had an MRI? (smile)
OK … I just escaped the VAMC. Hand surgery, 20 plus sutures … The Doc says I going to make it and to fight and win in court … Again and again.
After action photo sent to Jonn.
Master Chief…Glad to hear you are okay. Follow the docs advice sir.
Yeah, Sparks, except the part about avoiding fatty foods, reducing the alcohol intake, and foregoing the occasional cigar.
Especially those instructions regarding catheters . . . . (smile)
Seriously, MCPO – good to see you’re back with us and on the mend.
Remember that switching hands means it’s like getting some “strange” while you’re recuperating. 😀 😀
Jebeebus. I hope it wasn’t the after-hours hand.
So…….
No more double-dating for awhile, eh Master Chief? 😉
I am surprised the VA has not accused him of something.
I’m not surprised.
Our local VA has heavy, shatter resistent glass in it’s walk-up windows in the clinic. When I used to take my ex out there, they would look you in the eye, then slide the big metal shutters down right in your face if it was their time for lunch, or to go off shift. Wouldn’t say anything, just WOOSH, and you were looking at metal. You got the feeling if you were gut-shot, they’d have done the same thing.
Would that be the VA in Helena? I had that happen there.
Ft. Harrison, outside of Helena.
Very familiar with the Ft. Harrison VA. Had annual physicals and couple of minor surgeries there over the last ten years we lived in Helena. Been in Texas for eight months now and still waiting for an appointment at the VA Clinic if Ft. Worth
I was up to the VA Hospital at Togus, Maine today. Fastinf since midnight for bloodwork, then a 9am appointment with my Primary Care Doctor. So I get there early, take a number from the Deli Machine outside the lab, then have a seat. I’m number 8 on the waiting list. At exactly 0800 the door to the lab opens and the first number is called. At 0830, I still haven’t been called. Suddenly, the lab tech shuts off the lights, closes the door, and announces she’ll be back “in awhile”. and walks away. I wait another 15 minutes and decide I need to get to my Primary appointment, which is several buildings away. I hobble over there and arrive, after checking in, just in time. I still haven’t eaten and haven’t taken any of my insulin or diabetes meds. I explain this to the doc, and she makes some calls but can’t get an answer. Long story short, she still needs my bloodwork, so back I go to another lab 2 floors up in the same building. Plus, I also have to have a chest X-ray, same building, different floors. Half-way through the bloodwork I get faint and nearly pass out. But I recover and head to X-ray. Finally, I’m done. I walk 5 buildings back over to the cafeteria to get something to eat because I can’t take the diabetes meds or insulin without food. I get my food, then go to inject my insulin (I use a pen with disposable needles) and these 2 federal cops next to me announce that I can’t do that there. I’m alone at my table, beside a wall, it’s just raising my shirt slightly, and takes less than 60 seconds for everything. So I end up having to eat my meal, then hobble down to the men’s room to shoot up. So I say “to hell with this” and stop by the patient advocate’s office. I explain everything and she also makes a couple calls. Finds out that the reason the lab tech walked away early in the morning was that… Read more »
Oh, and it turns out that the federal cops were out of line too. I can take any meds, including insulin, where and when I require them, whether on the grounds or in the buildings.
Yeah, I would have told the cops to stuff it and not in those terms.
Fricking unions…
A co-worker had the same thing happen to him, except that he was in an exam room waiting to see a doc, fell asleep sitting in the chair, and woke up to find the place dark and locked in the building.
Makes me really anxious to go to the VA for anything…
When a VA clinic says it hours are until 1630, that means after 1500-1530 nothing happens. At 16:30 they are out the door if they are not already to their car by that time.
I was in an exam room for a physical and the doctor told me to run in place so he could check my pulse recovery rate or some such thing. I started running and 15min later he came back. “Holy Shit, I forgot you were running in place, I guess your healthy enough”
How could a guy be sitting in a VA Clinic and not notice everyone was leaving? Did he fall asleep or was he in a small locked room?
Hello folks, A first thing to consider in any news story is whether the news outlet researched the facts, presented the facts or if all the facts were even relevant to the story. Here’s answers to some questions and comments people have posted here… I wasn’t in an exam room nor in the head. I was in the waiting room. By 4:30 most everyone there is gone. I walked in at 1:00 and the alarm went off at 5:15 as I was filming the video. I was there to get a prescription filled, not to pick one up. I saw the nurse about 1:30, and was waiting for the confirmation that the doctor submitted it for pickup in Orlando or for the hard copy to bring there. I consider the three people who work at the front desk to be friends. They check me in when they see me come in the door and we’re all on a first name basis. At about 3:00 I went to the desk to remind someone I was still waiting. That person went into the back and came back out to tell me that they knew I was waiting but because I was a walk-in I would be last. As the three people left, EACH of them came up to me to say bye. I joked with the last person saying “I guess I’m locking up tonight” (ya, funny now). My doctor was out on maternity leave and her fill-in was on vacation so some other doctor had to sign off on the prescription. Probably because after 8 years I have a close relationship with everyone there, the security guard apparently felt comfortable leaving. I could still hear people in the back and actually saw the last staff member at about 5:00 but she apparently didn’t see me. So, to be clear – I waited about 15 minutes after I saw the last staff member and after being told four times that ‘they’ knew I was there. The lights were on and I had gotten up multiple times to walk around inside the waiting… Read more »
Thanks for dropping by and setting the story straight. Best of luck!