USA Today Investigation Finds VA Hospitals Regularly Hire Docs with Troubled Pasts

A USA Today investigation has found that the Department of Veterans Affairs has repeatedly hired doctors with checkered pasts. The investigation focuses on doctors like neurosurgeon John Henry Schneider, whose license had been revoked in Wyoming after a patient death. Schneider just hopped over to Iowa City and applied at the Department of Veterans Affairs hospital. He was forthright in his application about the license revocation and other malpractice troubles and was hired right away anyway. 

Schneider started working at a hospital that serves 184,000 veterans in 50 counties in Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri. Some of his patients already have suffered complications. Schneider performed four brain surgeries in a span of four weeks on one 65-year-old veteran who died in August, according to interviews with Schneider and family members. He has performed three spine surgeries on a 77-year-old Army veteran since July — the last two to try and clean up a lumbar infection from the first, the patient said.

Schneider’s case, unfortunately, is not an isolated incident. A VA hospital in Oklahoma knowingly hired a psychiatrist previously sanctioned for sexual misconduct who went on to sleep with a VA patient, according to internal documents. A Louisiana VA clinic hired a psychologist with felony convictions. The VA ended up firing him after they determined he was a “direct threat to others” and the VA’s mission.

The VA hiring process is seemingly intense and discerning but alas, USA Today has uncovered a number of troubling hiring's by VA hospitals across the country.  If you or a loved one is receiving treatment from a VA facility or any other healthcare facility for that matter, please do your research and find the provider for you. 

Read more about VA hiring doctors with past malpractice claims.