Veterans Deserve Justice

The man in the video is Robert Levy, the former VA medical doctor who was indicted today on three counts of manslaughter by a federal Grand Jury. Prior to the indictment, Levy was found to have misdiagnosed 3,029 veterans’ cases he worked on from 2005-17. Thirty of his misdiagnoses posed “serious risk” to his veteran patients. It has been reported that his error rate was 12 times the average rate for pathologists. He was terminated in April 2018 after showing up to work multiple times while impaired. His licenses to practice medicine in California, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas have all been revoked. 

On March 1, 2018 at 10:30 a.m. Levy was arrested for driving while impaired. Still in his scrubs, Levy advised officers that he had just left the VA Hospital in Fayetteville where he was working as the Chief of Pathology. His inability to speak clearly, stand up straight, pass any of the field sobriety tests, or even count to five, is illustrative of the severity of his impairment while employed by the VA.

Veterans who have risked everything to protect our country deserve better than impaired doctors making life or death medical determinations. Veterans deserve the best doctors and medical care. Sadly, in this case, and for more than a decade, they received the worst care from one of the worst doctors imaginable. 

Dr. Levy has caused irreparable harm to the lives of veterans and their families. The fact that VA administrators allowed Dr. Levy to continue to practice medicine knowing his history of on-the-job intoxication demonstrates their reckless disregard for the safety of veteran service members.

Since its inception, the VA has had a long and troubled history. We have released this video to shed light on another example of the VA’s extreme neglect of our veterans’ health. We call on the United States Congress to effect positive changes to ensure veterans receive care and treatment from the best available doctors and medical care providers. Only the best and the brightest deserve the privilege of treating our heroes. 

Furthermore, we call on Congress to reject proposed legislation that seeks to limit a veteran’s right to hold the VA and its doctors accountable for their negligent and reckless conduct or that attempts to place an arbitrary cap on the value of a veteran’s life. Innocent veterans deserve more than watered-down justice.