Rare disease at hospital raises concerns about VA health care

In July 2011 John Ciarolla died in a Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in Pittsburgh. His daughter, Maureen, was told that the cause of death was septic shock. But two years after he died, and after an extensive Centers for Disease Control and Prevention investigation, it was concluded that he actually died after contracting Legionnaires’ disease at the hospital.

Ciarolla wasn’t the only one—five other people died as well. And now CNBC has obtained emails that show hospital officials knew about the situation well before Ciarolla’s death. One email shows that officials knew there was a 60 percent “positivity” rate of Legionella as far back as 2010.

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This should not be accepted at all, our veterans deserve better…BTL’s compliance reporting would ensure accountability and could prevent the spread of such nasty infections.