PATTERN?

10 Suspicious VA Hospital Deaths Under Investigation, One Ruled a Homicide: Report

There is concern the veterans were targeted, according to sources close to the probe.

The Veteran Affairs Office of Inspector General is reviewing 10 suspicious deaths that have all occurred at VA hospitals in West Virginia, USA Today reports. People familiar with the investigation said there is concern the veterans were targeted; but just one of the deaths, that of 82-year-old Army veteran Felix Kirk McDermott, has officially been ruled a homicide. McDermott suddenly died last year at a VA hospital in Clarksburg, West Virginia. After his body was exhumed, a medical examiner discovered that an unauthorized injection of insulin into his abdomen—a potentially lethal injection for non-diabetics like McDermott—was the cause of death, according to McDermott’s daughter Melanie Proctor. Investigators reportedly told her that the other potential victims were “all about in the same shape,” and received doses of insulin before their deaths. The IG is reportedly investigating a “person of interest,” according to the office of U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, (D-WV), and a claim filed with the VA by McDermott’s family. “I thought my dad was safe there,” Proctor said.