Today is the 4 week anniversary of my beloved wife's death at our local VA. There is a story to be told concerning her death and the way in she was incorrectly diagnosed and treated. Most of that story remains a puzzle to me, but not to the lawyer.
My wife and I are both 100% Service Connected veterans. That means we depend on the VA for our healthcare. Because we both have PTSD, we are treated sometimes by the MD's with a certain lack of respect. This is particularly true of my wife, an Army RN.
On 26 February, she complained of being short of breath and had discomfort in trying to breath. She was laying on a couch in our living room and could not catch her breath even while lying down. Her instincts as a nurse told her she was in trouble and she told me as much, so off to the VA we went.
Once there, we were directed to the non-urgent overflow clinic and she was seen in turn. The nurse who was doing the intake exam didn't or couldn't get past her gulping air in rapid breaths. She told us she'd be right back and upon returning, had a brown paper bag for my wife to breath in saying she was hyperventilating. When that didn't help and after finding my wife’s pulse racing at 140 bpm with a low blood pressure, we were sent to the EKG department where the nurse’s findings were confirmed, my wife’s heart was beating very fast and she couldn’t breathe.
Seeing the proof and consulting with an MD, my wife was ordered up a single Xanax for anxiety and another EKG one half hour after taking the Xanax. Her heart rate came down from 140 to 137 and she could still not breathe. At that time, we were sent to the urgent care center.
She was seen immediately in Urgent care, hooked up to an EKG, and given a beta-blocker to bring her heart rate down. After two hours, her heart rate had dropped, to 120 bpm and we were sent home.
Over the weekend, she didn’t improve and on Monday, March 1, we went back to Urgent Care. Again, her chief complaint was not being able to breathe and she was treated for sinus tachycardia. She was admitted and given a halter monitor to monitor her heart rate, given blood tests for signs of heart related problems and infections. The nurses of the floor noted repeatedly that she could not breathe and yet the doctor who was treating her claimed she was doing well and discharged her the next day, March 2 at about 5 PM.
On March 3, exactly 4 weeks ago today, we were on our way back to the VA because her condition had deteriorated significantly over night. Two hours later, she had died at 10:08 AM after her blood pressure crashed while she was being evaluated in the Urgent Care at the VA.
She was buried on March 8 with Military honor; we couldn’t get the coroner to release her body to us any sooner than March 6, or the Saturday following her death. The cause of death listed on the death certificate is pulmonary embolism. From what research I’ve done this far, the major symptoms of a PE are shortness of breath, sinus tachycardia and low blood pressure. There is a blood test called a D-Dime that is used to detect clots; it wasn’t ordered. A CT Scan of her chest would have revealed it. She was given a chest x-ray and was told no results. Her medical records show she had pulmonary edema or fluid in her lungs, also an indicator of PE’s and Congestive Heart Failure, though the symptoms she presented didn’t lead the doctor to diagnose CHF.
I believe because she’s a psych patient, who has a history of panic attacks, it was presumed by the doctors and at least one nurse that she was having a panic attack. The tragedy will continue to unfold daily in our house. She left behind an 11-year-old daughter who will be forever changed by their presumption and me, afraid of leaving my daughter an orphan.
I have retained a lawyer, and I will keep the community updated on our quest of justice for my wife, my daughter and myself.