Phoenix vet sues VA for $50 million, says it misdiagnosed deadly prostate cancer

A Phoenix veteran is suing the VA Medical Center for $50 million in damages, saying he received a late diagnosis of terminal prostate cancer.

His suit comes after years of complaints about the Phoenix VA facility and its urology care.

According to a civil complaint filed in U.S. District Court, Steven Cooper, 44, served in the Army for 18 years before he was honorably discharged in 2007. The complaint states that between July and December 2011, Cooper attempted to schedule an appointment with the Carl T. Hayden VA Medical Center.

He could only schedule the appointment for months later, but his appointment was canceled many times by the VA, forcing him to reschedule, according to the complaint. When Cooper came to his appointment on Dec. 17, 2011, he was seen by a nurse practitioner, not a physician. The nurse practitioner failed to properly examine, evaluate, diagnose and treat Cooper when she noticed he had an asymmetrical prostate, but did not advise him to seek further care, according to the complaint.

The complaint says Cooper continued to seek medical care throughout 2012 for the symptoms he had made the original appointment for. According to the complaint, it was not until December 2012 that a VA Medical Center doctor ordered a prostate-specific antigen test for Cooper. When the results were abnormal, a biopsy was performed on Cooper's prostate on Dec. 14, 2012. The complaint says Cooper met with a urology doctor on Dec. 21, 2012, and was informed that he had stage four prostate cancer and was advised to seek hospice care.

Cooper sought a second opinion, according to the complaint, and he received a radical prostatectomy three weeks later. The complaint says he suffered complications and is now terminally ill.

Cooper filed his lawsuit against the VA on Oct. 26, seeking $50 million for "personal injuries due to medical negligence."

Cooper declined to speak with a reporter, directing questions to his attorney, Greg Patton.

"Steve was a successful independent business owner ... and his expected lifetime earnings would be $25 million," Patton said. "The other $25 million is the value of Steve's life."

Cooper had no insurance, according to Patton, and his only option for health care was the VA medical system. Patton said Cooper was told by the nurse practitioner that he had no reason to be concerned about his abnormal exam and that further treatment was not necessary.

According to Patton, the nurse practitioner was wrong, and had Cooper received the proper medical care during his visit in 2011, his prostate cancer would not have advanced as far as it did.

Since scandal erupted in April 2014, when VA employees complained about a months-long waiting list for ailing veterans, the Carl T. Hayden VA Medical Center has been under a microscope.

The problems with wait times at the center were due to a lack of space and lack of staffing, according to Jean Schaefer, a public affairs officer.

"We have taken steps to address both of those," Schaefer said in a phone interview Monday.

According to a report released by the VA Office of the Inspector General on Oct. 15, 45 percent of patients at the Phoenix center with bladder, prostate or urinary-tract issues received delayed care, or no care at all, during the past two years.

The report described 10 cases where patients' treatment or diagnosis was so delayed that it "may have affected their clinical outcomes" and that , "such delays placed patients at unnecessary risk."

In half of those 10 cases, the patients died.

Schaefer said in an e-mail that since 2014, the VA has increased the "number of employees in urology to 6.5 full-time-equivalent employees and are actively recruiting two more employees."

Schaefer and the VA declined to comment specifically on Cooper's case.