Dive Brief:
- Steve Cooper, a Phoenix Army veteran, has filed a $50 million lawsuit against the Phoenix Veterans Administration, reports the Phoenix Business Journal. Cooper, who is reportedly dying of cancer, is alleging delays in appointment scheduling as well as poor urological care.
- Filed in the U.S. District Court in Arizona, the action comes after a CNN investigation found veterans are still waiting months for care at some VA facilities, including the Phoenix VA facility, which had “secret” appointment lists hiding how veterans were dying waiting for care.
- Cooper, 44, served 18 years in the Army. Greg Patton, Cooper’s attorney, is noted by the Phoenix Business Journal as saying Cooper “is now dying of prostate cancer because he didn’t receive proper treatment when he should have gotten it.”
Dive Insight:
As previously reported in Healthcare Dive, the VA's health system has been under scrutiny as revealed by reports finding widespread inadequacies. The Veteran Choice Act, an emergency funding measure, was passed last year to fund a review of the system, which cost the public $16 billion.
Earlier this month, Allison Hickey, who was Under Secretary for Benefits at the VA, announced her resignation after promotional and reimbursement irregularities involving two-dozen senior executives in her department were discovered via an internal investigation.