Probe into 2 Deaths Ends at VA Hospital in Bultler, PA

Findings sealed; patients contracted staph infections

Friday, August 13, 2004

A federal investigation of the circumstances surrounding the deaths of two patients at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Butler has been concluded, but officials won't comment on what their inquiry found. ..

Local officials of the medical center have declined to answer specific questions regarding their internal inquiry except to say that it had been concluded, that their patient protocols are in compliance with national health standards set by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and that the facility has stepped up screening procedures.

Butler County Veterans Services Director John Cyprian had requested the federal probe after complaints from two county families who said their loved ones died from complications of an antibiotic-resistant staph infection they believe was contracted at the Butler facility.

Albert Richard McKnight, 76, of Forward, died May 20, at the VA hospital after he contracted methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA.)

McKnight had been brought to the hospital in February after being treated at Butler Memorial for congestive heart failure. He was assigned to a room with a diabetic amputee who had MRSA. McKnight's family had asked that he be moved, but said the nurses advised them such a precaution was unnecessary.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, staph bacteria are common causes of skin infections, most minor. But some infections can become life-threatening and difficult to treat due to the bacteria evolving into antibiotic-resistant.

After McKnight's death was publicized, Cyprian received a call from the family of 63-year-old John Stevenson of Butler who had died May 4 at Mercy Hospital. He had been a patient on the fourth floor at the Butler VA hospital, where McKnight had been a patient. His wife, Gertrude, believes he contracted MRSA at the VA hospital, though he had been a patient at other facilities, and that he died from MRSA complications.

After that second call, Cyprian asked for a federal investigation. ...

...Gertrude Stevenson said on Wednesday that she hasn't heard anything from any veterans officials but is expecting to meet at some point. She said a meeting had been set up at the Butler facility in June but when she appeared with her attorney, officials said the meeting would be rescheduled. "We're still waiting,'' she said. ...

...Meanwhile, Stevenson said she has heard of the Butler VA's improvements in screening procedures. "Who knows, maybe lives are being saved because of all this,'' she said. Post Gazette