Veteran's records found at home of deceased VA employee

A disabled Marine veteran received a letter from the Dayton Veterans Affairs Medical Center this week stating that personal medical records for him and other veterans — documents including birth dates and Social Security numbers — were found in the former home of a deceased VA staff employee.

Angelo Arnold, 51, of Centerville said he plans to contact a lawyer about suing the VA to allege that his privacy rights were violated.

The letter from the VA said “records pertaining to you” were among those found in the Centerville home of a deceased former employee. The current owner of the home contacted Centerville police after finding a lid-covered box of records this spring in the home’s attic.

Arnold said a Dayton VA official told him the records included his and those of 15 other veterans. The VA confirmed that number Thursday night and said it is notifying each veteran.

“This is a grievous injustice to veterans,” Arnold told the Daily News in an interview Thursday. “My rights have been totally violated. Someone has to be accountable at the Dayton VA. This sends a message that certain VA staffers are very careless and reckless with our files. Our case files should be protected.”

A Centerville police report says an officer responded May 1 to a report of newly located medical records found in the house.

“No one at the Dayton VA hospital knew how or why the records got removed from the medical center,” the police report states.

The Dayton VA Medical Center declined Thursday night to identify the deceased former employee.

In a written response to a series of questions from the Daily News, the VA said it did not know why the employee took records home.

“Unfortunately, the only party who truly knows is the deceased individual. This was an unfortunate and isolated event.”

Arnold received the letter from the Dayton VA Wednesday, and on Thursday obtained copies of approximately 300 pages of records. Those records dated to 1980 and included a detailed accounting of his injuries, medications and medical conditions.

In his June 22 letter to Arnold, Glenn A. Costie, director of the Dayton VA Medical Center, said: “I was recently notified that VA medical records were found in the former residence of a deceased staff person. Records pertaining to you were among those found.”

The letter did not identify the deceased staffer or describe the person’s job responsibilities.

The letter informed Arnold that he could file a complaint with the VA to assert that his privacy rights had been violated. Costie also suggested that Arnold could take steps to protect himself against identity theft.

“VA takes our obligation to honor and serve America’s veterans very seriously,” Costie wrote. “We believe it is important for you to be fully informed of any potential risk to you, and apologize for any inconvenience or concern this situation may cause.”

It was not clear why the VA waited until now to notify Arnold. Centerville police said the Dayton VA retrieved the records in early May.

Arnold said he receives partial disability compensation payments from the VA from a spine injury he attributed to a 1979 accident at the Marines’ Camp Pendleton, Calif., base when a 500-pound oil barrel fell on him. He said the VA has denied his request for additional disability compensation for knee and back injuries that he contends the accident also caused, and he is appealing those denials.

Arnold said he wonders whether the fact that part of his records were at the former VA staffer’s home contributed to the denial of additional benefits.

The discovery of the missing records represents a second prominent problem involving the Dayton VA within the past two years. In 2011, it was revealed that a dentist in the Dayton VA hospital’s dental clinic allegedly failed to change gloves and sterilize dental equipment between patient visits. The alleged poor infection control potentially put the health of hundreds of VA patients at risk between 1992 and 2010.

The now-retired VA dentist, Dr. Dwight M. Pemberton, has denied the allegations.

Arnold doesn’t know if he was ever treated by Pemberton, but on Thursday he found a page in his medical records containing doctor’s orders dated May 27, 1992, that bore Pemberton’s stamp and signature.

When the first reports surfaced about the dental clinic’s problems, Arnold said he contacted the Dayton VA to ask whether he needed to worry about infection exposure. Arnold said the VA told him he “wasn’t on the list” of those thought to have been at risk.

In the May 1992 record, Pemberton’s name appeared under another doctor’s written comments, adding the advice: “Have physician review and sign ... Notify dental service immediately of any medical contra-indication.”

It was unclear from the record what service had been rendered.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2242 or jnolan@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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