VA OIG Disputes Pittsburgh Legionella Allegations

By Walter F. Roche Jr.


The Inspector General for the U.S. Veterans Administration has found that test results for Legionnaires disease were delayed for three veterans treated at a Pittsburgh facility but the delays did not affect the care provided to victims.
In a brief 8-page report made public today the Inspector General said he "substantiated occasional delays in  reporting of Legionella test results."
The report, the result of a formal complaint, included a review of six cases in which patients died from Legionnaires disease and 25 cases in which urine tests showed evidence of Legionella. The cases fell between Jan. 1, 2012 and Dec. 31, 2014.
According to the report one of the six fatal cases in the 2012 outbreak showed evidence of a delay in the reporting of positive test results while delays were found for two of the 25 patients with positive urine test results.
Two test results were delayed for three days, while one was delayed for four days.
"However," the report states, "for all patients with a positive test result, antibiologics effective against Legionella had been initiated empirically either prior to the the date the test was ordered or on the same day,"  Assistant Inspector General Dr. John D. Daigh wrote in the report.
He concluded that as a result the delayed test reporting did not cause death or additional illness for any of the veterans.
 The IG also disputed a claim that VA personnel improperly flushed water systems prior to Legionnella testing thus negating the test results.
"We did not substantiate that water faucets were flushed excessively," the report concluded.
The acting regional directors for the Pittsburgh VA, David S. MacPherson, concurred in the IG's findings.