Colorado veterans hospital STOPPED heart surgeries for a year due to 'exodus' of surgeons pushed out by 'culture of fear' READ MORE: Mayo Clinic accused of 'deceptive' insurance practices in lawsuit By Maiya Focht Health Reporter For Dailymail.Com Published: 20:07, 30 June 2024 | Updated: 20:07, 30 June 2024 e-mail View comments A veterans' hospital has been accused of putting heart patients at risk after life-saving cardiac surgeries were paused for a year due to catastrophic staff shortages, multiple investigations have revealed. Two government probes discovered a ‘culture of fear' at Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center in Colorado , where leaders were ‘demeaning’ and ‘berating’ to staff, causing more than 20 top doctors, nurses and support staff to leave between 2020 and 2023.
The hospital, which treated more than 100,000 veterans a year, is accused of breaking with protocol for not disclosing the year-long halt on procedures to officials. One of the investigations shared the case of a 72-year-old man who died from cardiac arrest after an appropriate heart specialist was not available to monitor him. Regional VA medical center served 101,400 patients between October 2022 and September 2023, the reports found The investigations, carried out by the US Department of Veterans Affairs Office of the Inspector General (OIG), included interviews with more than 50 former and current employees.
There are 172 VA medical centers and 1,138 outpatient VA sites across the.
