Trial begins in suit over vet’s treatment at Phoenix VA hospital
Dennis Wagner , The Republic | azcentral.com
A military veteran with terminal prostate cancer survived long enough to get his day in court Monday, quietly observing opening arguments in a $50 million lawsuit filed against the Department of Veterans Affairs for alleged negligence.
Steven Cooper, 45, alleges that a VA nurse practitioner who examined him in late 2011 failed to order a blood test or make a specialist referral that could have detected the disease early, before it became incurable.
But the VA contends the medical worker followed appropriate protocols, and should not be second-guessed based on hindsight.
During initial statements before Judge Michelle Burns, attorney Gregory Patton said VA employee Shirlee Helton failed to observe accepted standards of care when she examined Cooper at the Carl T. Hayden Medical Center five years ago.
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According to medical notes, Helton found Cooper’s prostate was asymmetrical, yet failed to order a blood test that detects prostate cancer, or to set up an appointment with an urologist.
Patton noted that Cooper’s malignancy was not discovered until nearly a year later. At that point, he said, a VA physician informed Cooper that his condition was not treatable and he should seek hospice care. Instead, Cooper went to a private specialist who performed radical surgery.
Patton stressed that, when prostate cancer is caught early, it can be eliminated with a simple operation. But once it spreads into lymph nodes, a radical procedure is required along with radiation treatment, chemotherapy and chemical castration.
Glancing at his client, Patton added, “These steps are to buy time. … Mr. Cooper will die from this disease — unnecessarily.”
Elizabeth Sichi, an attorney for the Department of Veterans Affairs, said Cooper represented a low risk of prostate cancer when he was first examined him due to his age, ethnicity and lack of family medical history. She said an enlarged or asymmetrical prostate does not automatically indicate disease, or require testing that could be expensive, uncomfortable and unnecessary.
“There was not an indication of anything being wrong at all,” Sichi said. “What Ms. Helton did that day was acceptable in the medical community. …In fact, many times the standard of care is to watch and to wait.”
The trial has been linked to a VA health-care crisis that erupted in Arizona during 2014 and spread nationwide. That controversy focused primarily on delayed care, falsification of wait-time data and mismanagement. The Phoenix hospital’s Urology Department was among those most severely hindered by patient backlogs.
The civil complaint says Cooper sought appointments for six months before he was seen by Helton, but faced delays and cancellations.
Patton noted that when Cooper was finally diagnosed with terminal cancer in 2012, a VA physician urged him to have further testing done immediately, but no opening was available for four months. When Cooper turned to a private provider for help, Patton said, he was able to be tested within hours, and his life was prolonged by extreme medical efforts.
Patton said Cooper, a former military police officer who served 18 years in the Army, deserved the best of care at the VA. “Instead, he received the worst.”
Sichi said it is mere speculation that Cooper’s cancer could have been contained and cured if it had been detected earlier. She also challenged the request for $50 million in damages, which is based on Cooper’s prospective future earnings and the value of his life. She said the claim stems from Cooper’s ambition to build an online university system, yet he was unemployed in 2011, and his business dream flopped.
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