Seattle-Area VA Hospital Criticized ("immediate threat to life")

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Source: Associated Press

Seattle-area VA hospital criticized
By CURT WOODWARD, Associated Press Writer
16 minutes ago

OLYMPIA, Wash. - The Department of Veterans Affairs knew for months that shower heads, handrails and other fixtures posed serious suicide risks to Seattle-area psychiatric patients, but refused to fix the problems, inspectors said in a report released Friday.

The VA said it scrambled to remedy problems in Seattle after a medical standards group threatened to pull its endorsement of two area hospitals last month. Health care for the nation's veterans has been rocked in recent months by accounts of shoddy treatment at the Department of Defense's Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., inspected the Seattle VA hospital's progress Friday and said the hospital is correcting problems identified by inspectors. She spent nearly two hours touring the hospital's two psychiatric wards and repeatedly asked VA officials to let her know if they need more money. But Murray also criticized how the problems were handled. "What happened in those four months?" Murray, D-Wash., asked her tour guides. "Can I be absolutely blunt? I heard it wasn't a resources issue. ... It was a lack of leadership issue."

The Chicago-based Joint Commission, a nonprofit hospital standards group, said psychiatric ward conditions posed an "immediate threat to life" after it inspected the VA Puget Sound Health Care System in May.

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