Durham VA ensures best treatment for veterans

DURHAM, N.C. — The Durham VA Medical Center is promising the community that four veterans seen in photos waiting for their appointments while in pain are now getting the care they deserve.

Those photographs circulated through social media.

The man in the wheelchair is Jesse Lee, a Vietnam War veteran who was in the hospital for severe phantom pain from an amputation.

"It felt like a railroad spike was going through my foot,” Lee said. “It's like one of the worst pains you've ever felt in your life."

Lee said he waited several hours in pain before being seen.

"Somebody in real bad pain should be seen," Lee said.

The photo and the story behind it has the attention of other Veterans Affairs agencies.

Channel 9 tried to speak with the assistant secretary of North Carolina Veterans Affairs, James Prosser, who was a guest speaker at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte Tuesday.

He declined but said he's aware of the photo and shares the concerns many have about it.

He also said the state VA is monitoring the situation.

Executive director of the Durham VA, Deanne Seekins, said the picture is not a reflection of the care her hospital provides.

"We really do everything that we can to ensure that our veterans are treated with dignity and respect," Seekins said.

She has worked for the VA for more than 30 years and said that when she heard about the post, she immediately took action.

She says she reached out to two of the three veterans in the photo.

"One veteran specifically said to me, 'I don't want anything to harm the Durham VA because they care for me,'" Seekins said.

The director also said she has reached out to Congress members.

She said she's working to reassure them and veterans that her hospital treats patients with dignity and respect.

"I think that when the investigation is complete that that one snapshot is definitely not the whole picture," Seekins said.

The Durham VA director said she has a team reviewing surveillance video and interviewing employees to get the whole story.

The executive director of the Durham VA also said the staff member under investigation will return to work but will be moved to administration, pending the outcome of the investigation.

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