Veteran Richard Sipocz sat down with INsight to describe his medical malpractice experience as a patient of Dr. Hammersley. Sipocz, along with 12 other veterans has filed a class action complaint against the VA doctor.

Host: Welcome back to INsight. We’re here at the Sweeney Studios. I’m here with Richard Sipocz. He is a veteran, served in the U.S. Military, retired from the Air Force.

Richard Sipocz: Yes, ma’am.

Host: Thank you for that.

Richard: Thank you.

Host: And we’re talking to you today because you underwent foot surgery at the VA with Dr. Hammersley.
Richard: Yes.

Host: Let’s talk about that. Tell our viewers how the whole thing started.

Richard: Well, I did 24 years in the Air Force and, of course, I retired here, in Fort Wayne, and it was recommended that I, you know, go to the VA, but bottom line was that Dr. Hammersley was the only podiatrist there, so it was kind of like I had no other choice.

Host: And he told you that you needed this surgery.

Richard: Correct, he did. He, and I was very leery about it, so I asked for a second opinion and I went and seen a local doctor outside of the VA realm and he had suggested, you know, just, there was no surgery that could have been done to correct it, so he suggested fusion, but Dr. Hammersley said he could do something to fix it, so I’d be able to walk again without a cane.

Host: So you had the surgery. How’d things go after that?

Richard: Pretty bad, because I ended up having to have two surgeries because after the first surgery, during the first surgery, he nicked a tendon and he couldn’t finish it up during that one, so he had to close me up and then go back in a second time, and since then, the prognosis is basically fusion or replacement, so I, and it’s very difficult to do any ordinary household chores. Mowing the lawn. I love doing yard work, but I can’t, I’m unable to do that now.

Host: Have you had follow-up appointments with Dr. Hammersley?

Richard: Yes. I had to go down to Marion, where his, I guess he was just stationed out of there, but yes. And, you know, each time I told him, I said, you know, it’s, didn’t get any better, didn’t get any better, but that was about it. That’s where it ended up.

Host: So when did you learn that there was malpractice incidences against Dr. Hammersley?

Richard: The VA had notified me back in 2018, beginning of 2018, that they wanted to talk to me about a doctor. First, they weren’t forthcoming with the information, but then they finally told me that it was concerning Dr. Hammersley and some of the surgeries that they had mentioned that they were unnecessary. They sat me down in a room, there were several administrators, chief surgeon in the VA, and proceeded to tell me how bad my ankle was. They showed me pictures of the deterioration since the surgeries up until, you know, most current, and, basically, that was, you know, an eye opening experience. I didn’t realize what was going on, you know, because I always, well, you know, being a military, you know, veteran, we look for, we don’t, we have, we’re very apprehensive about the VA and, you know, but, but it’s one of the things we get instilled in us while we’re in the military, to stay within that military structure, so it was very difficult.

Host: In that meeting, did they encourage you to file a malpractice claim?

Richard: Yes, ma’am. As a matter of fact, it’s called a tort claim.

Host: Okay.

Richard: They said that I had up to two years to file the tort claim and they gave me all this paperwork and everything on how to do it, the steps on how to do it, like a checklist, so to speak, as well as to add that to my current disability rating.

Host: So what happened when you did that?

Richard: I filled out all the paperwork like I was supposed to. I had received a phone, it took quite a few months, but I received a phone call from a lawyer, seemed like she said that she was representing the VA outside of the Pentagon, and I gave her all the information that she requested and towards the end of the confirma- or that, the conversation we had, she said that she would be remissed if I didn’t tell you that there’s a statute of limitations. And at that moment, I paused. I was like, and that’s when I said, “Then why’d you even tell me?” Because, and then she said, “There’s other avenues,” you know, and all this other stuff, and then, and that’s why I just, I mean, I was so disgusted, you know, and there’s other individuals that are, that this happened to are probably, that are definitely worse off than I am.

Host: So that’s when you reached out to Sweeney Law Firm.

Richard: Actually, I had seen the, the television, the interview with them on TV, and he, that’s when I emailed them and that’s, I mean, he became my lawyer.

Host: You would encourage, if there’s anybody else that’s in your situation, absolutely they should do that.

Richard: Oh, absolutely. I, and, you know, there’s a lot of the individuals out there, a lot of vets out there, that aren’t even aware that this is going on. I mean, it’s just, it’s a systemic problem that, I know that it’s getting a lot better than it was in the past, but we still have a long way to go cleaning up the Veteran’s Administration.

Host: Well, again, we appreciate your service. Thank you for what you’ve done. If you’re a victim) of malpractice or feel like you were a victim of malpractice at the VA, all you have to do is give them a call today or visit their website at sweeneylawfirm.com. We’ll be right back.

Download the full interview transcript.

Posted in Videos | No Comments »

Dave Farnbauch talked with ABC’s INsight about the quality of care provided by nursing homes in Indiana. Unfortunately, Indiana is currently ranked very low in comparison to other states. 

You can read the full transcript below, or access a PDF version of the transcript.

---

Charity: Welcome back to INsight. I’m here with Dave Farnbauch from Sweeney Law Firm. We’re going to talk today about the quality of care delivered by nursing home, specifically in Indiana. Where does Indiana stand compared to the quality of care delivered by other States nursing homes? 

David Farnbauch: Well Charity, we’ve talked about this a number of occasions about where Indiana ranks in terms of quality of nursing home care. Unfortunately we rank near the very bottom by organizations like AARP. They rank Indiana dead last in 50 States, we ranked 48th out of the 50 States in the average number of nursing hours per patient, which is really the most important thing. How many hours of care are you getting? We ranked 48th. So all these objective measures of quality of nursing home care, we rank near the very bottom. 

Charity: So why? why do we rank so poorly? 

David Farnbauch: I’m glad you asked me that question. If viewers are interested in learning the answer to that question, I want to direct them to some investigative journalism that was done by the Indianapolis Star this spring. There were a couple of reporters for the Indianapolis Star that dug very deeply into the question of why the quality of nursing home care is so poor in Indiana. And they wrote a series of articles in the Indianapolis Star, which are available online. I printed off a copy and the article’s probably 17 or 18 pages, but it goes into considerable detail about what’s happened in the last 20 years with Indiana nursing homes, namely that there was a provision in federal legislation that enabled underfunded County Hospitals to apply for federal funding to pay for nursing home care, to upgrade that care back in 2000. 

David Farnbauch: And at that time we only had about nine facilities that were owned by County hospitals. Now, 499 nursing home facilities in the state of Indiana are owned by small County owned hospitals. And the reason these County owned hospitals acquire the licenses of these facilities is because they can receive higher. They get higher billing rates for these patients. And what this article points out is these County owned nursing homes, which most of the facilities now in the state are County owned, instead of taking that federal funding and putting it into nursing care, hiring more nursing staff, paying adequate wages to the nursing staff or in other words putting the money into care, this article points out that these County owned nursing home facilities have diverted that federal money into the physical facilities of their hospitals. They built brand new hospitals, there has been several. There was a hospital down in Indianapolis that took this money and built a $750 million hospital. And the small County hospitals in different areas around the state have significantly hundreds of millions of dollars building new hospitals with this money that was originally intended to provide and upgrade the care in nursing homes. So that’s a big part of the problem. The money is not really being spent on patient care. 

Charity: If you feel like your loved one has been neglected or there has been an issue in a nursing home, Sweeney Law Firm would be happy to talk to you. It’s something we’ve talked about many times that nursing home care is so very important. Give them a call today. 420-3137. We’ll be right back.

Posted in Videos | No Comments »

Confidential settlement for a nursing home’s failure to prevent and treat pressure ulcers resulting in sepsis and death. The facility negligently failed to inform the family of serious coccyx pressure ulcers and failed to arrange for a wound care consult in a timely manner resulting in the resident’s death.

Posted in Nursing Home Neglect, Sweeney Case Results, Sweeney Case Results - Medical Malpractice | No Comments »

If you or a loved one has been injured in a trucking accident, contact Sweeney Law Firm.

Posted in Commercials, Videos | No Comments »

Don’t be bullied into a settlement by your insurance company. Contact us today.

Posted in Commercials, Videos | No Comments »

If you or a loved one has been injured in a trucking accident, contact Sweeney Law Firm.

Posted in Vehicle Collisions, Videos | No Comments »

Distracted drivers cause accidents. If you’ve been injured by a distracted driver, contact us now. We sue distracted drivers.

Posted in Vehicle Collisions, Videos | No Comments »

Injured in an accident? Do your homework before hiring a personal injury lawyer.

The accident lawyer you choose can make a big difference in the compensation you receive.  You can check out a lawyers ratings and reviews online and it makes sense to do your homework before hiring a personal injury lawyer in Indiana.

Sweeney Law Firm is based in Fort Wayne, Indiana and is devoted to the representation of personal injury victims including medical malpractice and nursing home negligence.

It’s no secret that practicing lawyers know who the best lawyers are. Lawyers know that the key to winning a serious personal injury case is to hire a law firm with trial experience, access to top notch experts, and substantial financial resources to properly fund every step of the case. We have worked very hard to gain the trust of our peers who refer serious injury cases to our office.

The Sweeney Law Firm offers free consultations. You will never pay any attorney fees or case expenses unless we obtain a financial recovery in your legal case.

Posted in Personal Injury, Videos | No Comments »

If you or a loved one has been injured due to hazardous conditions, contact us today.

More

Posted in Personal Injury, Videos | No Comments »

If you or a loved one has been injured due to hazardous conditions, contact us today.

Posted in Commercials, Videos | No Comments »