Fredrick Harris, an employee of the Alexandria Veterans Affairs Health Care System, has finally been suspended indefinitely after being charged in a patient death four years ago. What has Harris been doing for the last four years? Well, he was allowed to continue working.
Fredrick Harris, an employee of the Alexandria Veterans Affairs Health Care System, has finally been suspended indefinitely after being charged in a patient death four years ago. What has Harris been doing for the last four years? Well, he was allowed to continue working.
The House Committee on Veterans Affairs was recently made aware of the suspension that took effect February 14 after Harris was indicted on a negligent homicide charge back on January 25. What happened to bring about such a charge? Well, back in 2013, a seventy-year-old patient, Charles Lee Johnson, died after an altercation with Harris. At the time of Johnson’s death, an internal investigation deemed the patient’s death an accident from a fall. Only later did an autopsy reveal blunt force trauma to Johnson’s head, which prompted law enforcement to arrest Harris on the manslaughter charge.
Despite being charged with manslaughter in Johnson’s death, he was allowed to continue working at the VA Medical Center when he “was cleared by an internal investigation.” Four long years later was Harris finally officially indicted on charges of negligent homicide.
If this case has revealed or taught us anything it’s that serious changes need to be done to the VA system. To allow someone who played a part in a patient’s death to continue working with patients is inexcusable and should never have happened. Fortunately, there are lawmakers out there who want to see improvements made to the VA system, including Rep. Ralph Abraham, R-Alto, a member of the House Armed Services Committee. For years Abraham has lobbied “tirelessly on veterans issues,” and when discussing the recent Harris case, he said:
“This case illustrates why I continue to fight for reform in the VA system. Certainly, the accused will have his day in court, but an employee charged with such a serious offense has no business being around veterans. The VA should have removed him from patient access a very long time before now, if for no other reason than out of an abundance of caution for the well-being of other veterans at the facility.”
Clearly, changes need to be made for the safety and wellbeing of VA patients. It will be interesting to see how things play out down the road.
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