FAYETTEVILLE — Three deaths are among the 11 confirmed, serious cases in which a pathology report was wrong, according to findings in an ongoing review of an impaired pathologist's work at the Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks.
The review has found 256 cases in which the pathology report missed the diagnosis with possibly severe consequences that ranged from extended, avoidable hospitalization to lasting disability or death, said Kelvin Parks, interim director of the system. Parks spoke Monday to a crowd of about 30 at a town hall meeting.
Officials don't know in most of the 256 cases if the misdiagnosis had any serious consequences, but 11 of those cases did, Parks said. Patients in three of the 11 cases died. Misdiagnosis is believed to be a factor in at least one death, according to earlier statements by the Veterans Affairs Department. The other two are still under review, Parks said.
A total of 14,980 of the 33,806 cases to be reviewed have been so far, according to the interim director.
Of those reviewed, 9,979 have no errors, Parks said. Another 863 appeared to have errors with no lasting consequences to the patients involved. Final results have not be reported for the remainder of the cases reviewed.
The review includes every case the pathologist involved worked on since his hiring in 2005.
"There is no precedent or procedure for a look-back of this magnitude," Parks said.
Monday was the second town hall meeting since the initial June 18 news conference at which the problem was announced.
Parks expects to finish the review by Dec. 31, thanks in large part to an agreement signed with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences to provide nine pathologists to work at the Fayetteville veterans system site full time. The center will bring in more pathologists from outside the state, but that will have to wait until the beginning of the new federal fiscal year Oct. 1, he said.
A final report will be made public in January, he said.
The review began after administrators discovered a pathologist at the system's hospital in Fayetteville tested samples while impaired, administrators said during the June news conference. The pathologist, Dr. Robert Morris Levy of Fayetteville, confirmed in an earlier interview he worked while impaired with alcohol in 2016 but said he didn't work while impaired afterward.
Levy previously acknowledged he's the pathologist involved, although the system won't confirm, saying it's a personnel matter. Levy was fired in April, according to administrators. He had been suspended in March 2016 for being impaired, but he returned to work that October after counseling and after a check of his work found no errors at the time.
The Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General is investigating the retention of the pathologist after his first reported impairment, Parks said. There's no timeline on the inspector general's report. In addition, Parks has launched an internal investigation to find "who knew what when," he said.
Levy was again taken off clinical work in October 2017 after what the hospital described as a second instance of working while impaired. His dismissal in April came after a personnel review.
The Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks serves veterans in 23 counties in Northwest Arkansas, southwest Missouri and eastern Oklahoma.
The cases under review are prioritized by risk, Parks has said. Tests for the most serious possible diagnoses, such as prostate biopsies for cancer, will be reviewed first, he said. Other risky conditions earmarked for priority are CT-guided needle biopsies, breast biopsies and endoscopies.
Read Tuesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.