Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., is calling for the Department of Veterans Affairs to send a team of investigators to the Bedford (Mass.) VA Medical Center to look into a patient death, according to The Boston Globe.
William Nutter was a Vietnam War veteran and retired police detective who died of cardiac arrest in July 2016.
An investigation from The Boston Globe from Oct. 17 revealed that a hospital staff member who was supposed to perform hourly check ins on Mr. Nutter the night of his death failed to do so because she was playing games on her computer.
While a criminal investigation on the matter is already underway, Ms. Warren believes this case receives special attention based on the degree of negligence demonstrated by the VA employee.
"Patients at the Bedford VA Medical Center are not serial numbers in a file," Ms. Warren wrote to VA Secretary David Shulkin, MD, reports The Boston Globe. "They are heroes who deserve the highest-quality care. It is beyond outrageous that someone in the care of the VA died because an employee was apparently more interested in playing a video game than checking on him."