Allegations of abuse and mistreatment at an Alabama veterans home has caused the state’s junior senator to call for an investigation.
Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.) sent a letter to VA Inspector General Michael Missal on Friday calling on him to look into reports of neglect and cruelty at the Floyd E. “Tut” Fann State Veterans Home in Huntsville.
“Despite passing a federal inspection last August that determined that the facility was ‘deficiency free,’ the whistleblowers alleged staff was indifferent to issues such as bed sores, improper feeding of the veterans, and a Scabies outbreak,” wrote Jones.
Jones noted that reports of negligence “go back years” dating back to 2013. “Was the 2018 inspection of the facility deeply flawed, or was the evaluation intentionally misrepresentative?” he asked in the letter.
He wants answers about the “apparent failures in our inspection process that led o these egregious circumstances in Huntsville.”
The revelation of how veterans are treated was highlighted by WAFF Channel 48. One former housekeeper said she heard one veteran fall out of his bed when she went to help she found bed sores and blood on the floor.
On another occasion, she witnessed a veteran with Scabies, which includes mites burrowing into the skin.
The veterans home opened its doors in 1995 and is ran by South Carolina-based HMR Veteran Service through a contract granted by the Alabama VA.