CHARLESTON, W.Va. — As John Hallman, an 87-year-old Braxton County resident, experienced crashing blood sugar while being treated at a VA hospital, the person checking his glucose levels overnight was a woman now considered a person of interest in a series of suspicious deaths, a lawyer for Hallman’s family says. The family lawyer for Hallman is searching for evidence and a complete medical record; they believe that there was negligence that occurred during Hallman’s treatment.
Tony O’Dell, a lawyer who represents Hallman’s family, has filed a claim over Hallman’s death with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
The basis of claim, which was provided to MetroNews, redacts the name of the person checking Hallman’s glucose levels overnight.
“We have a pretty good idea who the person of interest is,” O’Dell said Thursday on MetroNews’ “Talkline.”
“The person of interest was the person who was actually taking the glucose level readings. So she would have actually been in with the family while Mr. Hallman was dying.”
Ten or more deaths are believed to have occurred under similar circumstances in 2017 and 2018 at the Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center in Clarksburg.
No one has been arrested. The hospital in Clarksburg has said no one currently working there is a suspect.
The Washington Post reported this month that the person of interest initially was transferred to a desk job, and then was fired after a few months. She was accused of falsely claiming on her resume that she was certified as a nursing assistant.
The Office of Inspector General for the Veterans Administration has been investigating the deaths, along with the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Five victims have been identified publicly, plus there are others who have not been named. They include veterans William Alfred Holloway, Felix Kirk McDermott, George Nelson Shaw, Archie Edgell and John Hallman.
The cases share several characteristics. Each patient was on 3A. And each experienced crashing blood sugar before dying. Most had no history of diabetes and were not supposed to receive insulin injections.
O’Dell, who represents the McDermott family, said the woman now considered to be a person of interest was also administering glucose checks in the McDermott case.
“She would have been interacting with these families while these veterans were laying there dying,” O’Dell said.
Tony O’Dell joins @HoppyKercheval to talk about the ongoing cases at the VA in Clarksburg, the filing of intent to sue, and the passing of veteran John Hallman. WATCH: https://t.co/wkudfIAoe1 pic.twitter.com/Z0ZXRC57lY
— MetroNews (@WVMetroNews) October 17, 2019
Hallman was a Korean War veteran who served in the Navy. He was admitted June 12, 2018, to the VA hospital with a suspected small bowel obstruction.
He was placed on antibiotics, anti-inflammatory medication and fluids and admitted to the hospital’s 3A unit. An initial test of his blood sugar was normal.
But overnight, periodic checks showed his blood sugar was crashing.
His initial glucose test at 9:27 p.m. June 12 read 77, within the normal range of 70 to 109.
By 5:40 a.m., his glucose reading was 56.
And by 6:45 a.m., the glucose level was 26.
At that point, the critical low result triggered a report to a doctor and medicine to boost his blood sugar levels was ordered and administered.
By 11:25 a.m. June 13, 2018, “Mr. Hallman was found apneic, pulseless and unresponsive,” according to the basis of claim that O’Dell has filed with the VA.
The Washington Post reported that it was Hallman’s death that finally made hospital staff suspicious.
“We said, ‘Who checks the blood sugar on a non-diabetic in the middle of the night while they’re trying to sleep?’ It was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is not good,'” a medical staffer told The Post.
The claim on behalf of Hallman’s family contends the hospital did not take the appropriate steps to examine his symptoms or to warn the family of unusual events at the hospital.
In short, the claim contends, John Hallman and his family were not provided adequate information that might have saved his life.
“If John Hallman had been provided informed consent, he could have made an informed choice about whether to seek care at that facility or seek care somewhere else,” according to the claim.
The accusation that the hospital was negligent is a common theme in additional claims.
“You’re seeing system failure after system failure,” O’Dell said on “Talkline.”
Hallman Ltr to Dept VA Form SF95 Redacted (Text)
Speaking Wednesday on MetroNews’ “Talkline,” attorney Dino Colombo said an accusation of negligent conduct will be key to a claim by the family of deceased Army veteran Archie Edgell.
“They are responsible for the failure to follow their own policies and procedures,” Colombo said.
He contends insulin was too easily accessible at the VA hospital and that the most likely scenario is that’s what was used to kill the patients.
“They should be locking that medication up. We have information that this medicine was just lying around 3A on the unit,” he said. “Nobody was monitoring the use of that medication.”