A medical malpractice lawsuit has been settled between the McGuire VA Medical Center and an Army veteran for close to $1 million. The lawsuit itself was filed by Michael Holmes back in December after he suffered a stroke “as a result of a surgery that, as it turned out, he didn’t even need.” Since his stroke, Holmes wonders if he will ever regain use of his arm.
A medical malpractice lawsuit has been settled between the McGuire VA Medical Center and an Army veteran for close to $1 million. The lawsuit itself was filed by Michael Holmes back in December after he suffered a stroke “as a result of a surgery that, as it turned out, he didn’t even need.” Since his stroke, Holmes wonders if he will ever regain use of his arm.
The surgery that caused the stroke was performed on Holmes, a veteran who “served his country with pride,” back in May of 2015. What should have been a brief one-hour surgery “to clean out what he [the doctor] diagnosed as a near completely blocked carotid artery,” instead revealed that there was nothing wrong with the artery. Unfortunately, Holmes ended up suffering a massive stroke, and that brief one-hour surgery turned into a five-hour-long surgery that kept Holmes in the hospital for 60 days.
According to Holmes, “about four weeks, I couldn’t walk, I think about four days I couldn’t talk.” And after a year, the effects still linger, and he “only has roughly 10 percent use of his arm.” He explained, “if I try to straighten my fingers, my hand doesn’t respond.” Additionally, Holmes is “uneasy on his feet” and “his speech is still greatly affected.”
In addition to the unnecessary surgery he underwent that resulted in the stroke, Holmes’ lawsuit also alleged that he was told, a week before the surgery, “to stop taking aspirin, which the lawsuit alleged should routinely be continued through the surgery as it helped to prevent blockages.” However, since the lawsuit, Holmes’ attorney, Glen Sturtevant claims that VA procedures have changed. Sturtevant explained:
“The VA has in fact now changed its policy for veterans who are undergoing the surgery that Mr. Holmes underwent. They now change their policy to require those veterans to make sure they are taking aspirin and anti-platelet therapy medicines.”
Now, two years after the surgery and his stroke, Holmes harbors “no resentment or ill will towards the VA,” but continues to ask his doctors “when he will make a full recovery.” Every time he’s told the same thing, that he may never fully recover. That’s why Holmes is hopeful that the “$750,000 settlement will allow he and his wife to be able to survive for the rest of their lives.”
Sources:
Veteran settles medical malpractice lawsuit with McGuire VA Medical Center
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