CLARKSBURG, W.Va. — The Veterans Administration is announcing a number changes at the Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center in Clarksburg after an internal investigation that followed the murders of several veterans who were patients at the facility.
The VA announced the changes in a Christmas Eve news release including a change in the hospital’s director and a safety stand down at the facility.
Medical Center Director Dr. Glenn Snider Jr. is being replaced, Veterans Health Administration’s Executive in Charge, Dr. Richard Stone, announced.
Associate Director Terry Massey will become interim director until Jan. 4 when VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System Deputy Director Barbara Forsha becomes acting director in Clarksburg.
U.S. Senator Joe Manchin expressed support for the move in a statement released Thursday morning.
“It was time for a leadership change at the Clarksburg VAMC for the sake of our Veterans’ safety and well-being,” Manchin said.
Former nursing assistant Reta Mays, 46, is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty earlier this year to killing 7 veterans by injecting them with insulin. She’s awaiting sentencing. Her attorneys recently asked a judge to postpone the hearing.
The charges and plea followed a two-year investigation that began after the VA Medical Center reported several suspicious deaths. Mays had access to the veterans’ hospital rooms. She wasn’t supposed to have access to insulin.
The VA’s response comes after an Administrative Investigation Board’s report which focused on patient safety issues and culture at the Clarksburg hospital.
“What happened at the Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center was unacceptable, and we want to ensure that Veterans and families know we are determined to restore their trust in the facility,” Stone in Thursday’s news release. “Transparency and accountability are key principles at VA, and they will guide our efforts in this regard.”
The hospital will not accept any new patients under the safety stand down with the exception of COVID-19 and intensive care patients. Others seeking care will be directed to other VA facilities. Those seeking emergency care can still come to Clarksburg, the VA said.
“The recently announced safety stand-down is further evidence that there are serious issues at the Clarksburg VA facility,” Manchin said.
Other changes announced include:
–making a recently hired physician, who was an experienced hospitalist in the community, the hospital’s new inpatient director of hospitalists.
–a detailed nursing leadership team is being brought into the facility.
–retraining of all Clarksburg VAMC personnel involved in reporting urgent issues throughout the chain of command. The incoming leadership team will assess the amount and level of training that is needed. It will be conducted throughout the facility over a period of time to ensure continuity of operations and care.
In a phone interview with MetroNews Thursday, Manchin said he knew there were problems the first meeting he had at the medical center after information on the deaths surfaced.
“I told them in a meeting, ‘There’s either somebody incompetent or someone’s lying. Either way it’s gross negligence,'” Manchin said. “It was wrong. It was so bad. The quality of care, the leadership, no one was taking responsiblity. It’s like nobody cared.”
Manchin said the Senate’s Veterans Committee will now conduct a full hearing.
“My main concern continues to be monitoring the quality of care our Veterans receive at our West Virginia VAMCs,” Manchin said. “I hope this will be a fresh start for our Veterans and their loved ones. My heart goes out to these Veterans and their families who will be impacted in the middle of an already difficult holiday season.”