Veteran lost his leg thanks to this horrifying mistake by the VA

The Veterans Administration strikes again.

News broke last week that a VA medical center had to amputate a veteran’s leg in 2016 because doctors had mistakenly placed manufacturer’s plastic inside it during an operation. Doc Thompson and Kal Elsebai talked about the latest example of VA malpractice on Monday’s “The Morning Blaze with Doc Thompson.”

Undergoing an operation to repair his blood vessels after circulation issues, the veteran had to have his leg amputated three weeks later. VA doctors USA TODAY obtained internal documents for the damning report on the Memphis VA Medical Center, which is one of the worst in the country, according to the VA’s own numbers.

The piece of plastic packaging measuring around 10 inches in length was mistakenly embedded into the man’s artery while doctors were operating. The plastic in question is typically used to package catheters for shipping. VA doctors cut into the veteran’s leg to discover 3 inches of the plastic, finding another 7 inches in the amputated limb.

“Your government at work,” Kal Elsebai said incredulously on Monday’s show.

Doc talked about a recent guest on “The Morning Blaze” who shared her heartbreaking story of VA care. In August, Army veteran Suzanne Jacobsen explained how VA incompetence turned a routine procedure into five surgeries over two years and took first her foot, then her leg.

“It was a mistake they made, and then they had to amputate, then amputate even more,” Doc explained. “This is not the first time this has happened.”

In 2016, the same VA medical center punctured another patient’s colon during a colonoscopy and left a patient suffering from abdominal pain and blood in his urine waiting for two hours before he finally left to receive immediate care at another hospital, USA TODAY reported.

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