Though Court-Ordered Stephen Vincler fought in Vietnam as a U.S. Marine, but died in 2010 after routine surgery at the veterans' hospital in Seattle. Even though his now-grown children have already received an $800,000 settlement, they're still fighting Veterans Affairs years later.
Carrie Vincler Richards and her two siblings sued the VA in 2011, a year after their father died of preventable gastric bleeding at the hospital on Beacon Hill.
“It was really awful to see him that way, and it was absolutely apparent from the moment we walked in the door that something was very wrong,” she said of the day her father died, April 10, 2010.
She said her 63-year old dad was curled up in the fetal position, complaining of abdominal pain.
“I specifically asked his nurse whether he could be bleeding internally,” Richards told KIRO 7. “And she told me ‘no.’”
But Vincler did die of an untreated gastric bleed and cardiac arrest. Without admitting wrongdoing, the VA settled the Vincler family’s lawsuit for $800,000.
According to their attorney, VA Puget Sound Health Care System’s Chief of Staff, Dr. William Campbell, also agreed to a face-to-face meeting with the surviving family members.
“It is important to us, the in-person apology, because we want to feel like the VA is actually acknowledging what happened and is taking it seriously,” Richards said.
She also told KIRO 7 the family had prepared with their attorney for months to discuss areas in which the VA hospital could improve its care so “some sort of good can come out of our family’s tragedy.”
However, that encounter still hasn’t taken place, nine months after the settlement agreement was reached. A meeting scheduled for Jan. 7 had to be canceled because the family's attorney was fogged out.
Attempts to reschedule have so far been ignored, according to lawyer Ann Deutscher of Dore Deutscher Law Group PLLC.
“What will it take for them to stop not caring, because that’s all this is,” Deutscher said on Monday. The VA “just doesn’t care.”
The Vinclers aren’t the only ones who have raised concerns about what they claim is a dangerous standard of care at the Seattle VA hospital.
Since 2001, the VA Puget Sound Health Care System has paid out more than $15 million in medical malpractice claims after 16 veterans -- including Vincler -- died while patients of the Seattle hospital. Thirty-three more veterans suffered preventable “major” injuries there, according to court records.
Carrie Vincler Richards wants all preventable deaths and injuries to stop. “Our father was somebody who cared a great deal about his fellow veterans and would want his preventable death to result in a legacy of improved care for other veterans at that facility,” Richards said.
KIRO 7 Reporter Amy Clancy called Campbell for comment on Monday and was transferred to Chad Hutson, public affairs officer for the VA Puget Sound Health Care System. Hutson also had no comment and wouldn’t speculate on whether the court-ordered face-to-face meeting would ever occur.
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