The V.A. medical center in Grand Junction that cares for patients in the Roaring Fork Valley, is stopping certain surgeries. The move comes after an abnormal number of “unwanted surgical complications.”
Five such cases in nine months happened at the center, where veterans receive specialty care. In two cases, veterans died. In the other three, they were severely ill. In response, the medical center will now perform abdominal surgeries at an alternate hospital in Grand Junction and in Denver. Paul Sweeney is public relations officer for the Grand Junction Veterans Health Care System.
"The goal is to assure that there is no single source for these occurrences. Right now we’re looking at the surgeons who have had these issues. They’re all solid surgeons with established careers. They’ve done thousands of operations."
The V.A. system runs satellite clinics across the Western Slope, where veterans seek primary care. They go to the Grand Junction medical center for surgery, and things like MRI’s and CT scans. A percentage of the system's 14,500 patients are from the Roaring Fork Valley.