FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (KFSM) — The son of a U.S. Navy veteran is speaking out because he believes his father is one of the 3,000 people misdiagnosed by former Fayetteville VA pathologist Robert Levy.
"My father in July of 2005 underwent surgery for a mass in his adrenal gland and a mass in his colon. After that surgery, he was told no more procedures were necessary and he was sent home," said Kevin Williams.
18 months after the surgery, veteran Kenneth Williams and his wife were called to the Veteran Hospital in Fayetteville for a meeting. They drove from their home in Missouri expecting to hear medical options but instead were told news that changed their lives forever.
"He had metastatic melanoma, the slides were lost and they were disclosing that event," Kevin said.
In that meeting, Kenneth and his wife were told there had been a misdiagnosis and the pathologist had lost the veterans specimen slides.
Kenneth died six months later at the age of 64.
According to Kenneth's wife, the pathologist who signed her husband's laboratory findings was the Chief of Pathology, Robert Levy.
With the recent accusations against Levy, Kevin says it brought back all of the awful memories from 12 years ago.
"I hope it’s a wake-up call. I don’t think those people should fear entering the VA medical system, it’s the very least we can do is to provide adequate healthcare for these people who served our country. That’s the very least we can do," Kevin said.
Kevin says not a day goes by that he doesn't think about his dad. He says he's speaking out in hopes that this will shed light on the horrors that have gone wrong at the VA healthcare system over the last several years.
Levy was charged earlier this year with falsifying diagnoses in the deaths of three veterans escaped a DWI charge last year thanks in part to the substance he was abusing.