Gallup vets left without health specialist

Copyright © 2009
Gallup Independent
By Gaye Brown de Alvarez
Staff writer

GALLUP — Dr. Chander Bhatia, the physician at the Veterans Affairs Clinic in Gallup is still in town.

In fact, he said in an interview two weeks ago, he is still working on weekends at Cibola General Hospital. He said he isn’t sure why he was escorted out of the VA Clinic in Gallup last May. But he said it all started when he was at the yearly meeting of VA doctors in 2006 and he was the only one speaking. Bhatia said in the meeting he needed more staff.

Veterans Administration Chief of Medicine Dr. Martin Schimmel was at the meeting, but nobody else was talking about their needs at their VA clinics in the region. At the 2006 meeting, “nobody spoke up,” Bhatia said.

A phone call to the Veterans Administration was replied to by the chief of voluntary service and public affairs operations for the New Mexico VA Health Care System, Sonja Brown, who said she could not comment on personnel matters, but did state that Schimmel was not chief of medicine, but was the associate chief of staff of ambulatory care. She would not say anything further and suggested any further information should be obtained from Bhatia.

Marissa Padilla, of Sen. Tom Udall’s, D-N.M., office made an inquiry into the Department of Veterans Affairs as to the service and physician access at the Gallup Clinic.

Udall’s office received this response on Feb. 13 from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs: “The Gallup, NM Community Base Outpatient Clinic is fully staffed with two locum tenens physicians. The Gallup CBOC was historically staffed with one full-time physician. In February 2008, a second physician was added. In May 2008, the Clinic lost one of the physicians and the other physician resigned in July 2008. Immediate temporary replacements were provided, and medical services have been provided continuously with two physicians since July 2008. There has been no gap in physician services and access to Veteran care has been maintained throughout this period.

“Continuous monitoring of all quality of care measures is in place. Quality of care measures have shown steady improvement with the recruitment of a new clinic manager and maintaining physician staffing levels.

“Veterans in need of medical care should phone the clinic for an appointment at (505) 722-7234.”

Udall said in an e-mail to the Independent on Feb. 19 that his office was making further inquiries into the Gallup Veterans Clinic situation.

Bhatia told the Independent of one of his patients who needed hernia surgery, normally a simple operation. But the surgeon at the VA Hospital in Albuquerque, knowing he had some heart problems, said he needed some other work done, including a colonoscopy and another procedure to check his heart.

“I’m his doctor, I knew him well. It’s a simple surgery. I spoke up at the meeting.” Bhatia said he didn’t need the other procedures done.

So Bhatia cleared him for hernia surgery. But Schimmel stopped the planned surgery, Bhatia said.

The patient went to Udall, who intervened and six months later the patient received his hernia surgery.

Bhatia said this was when Schimmel planned to get rid of him. “He couldn’t fire me because there was no other doctor,” Bhatia said.

“Then Dr. Leslie came to me and wanted a part-time job,” Bhatia said. “I said OK and gave his resume to the chief of medicine.” In the 2007 yearly meeting he was informed that Leslie was hired full time. Bhatia figured they were trying put Leslie in as the VA Clinic doctor and eliminate him, but Leslie quit after one month saying “he couldn’t take it anymore.”

“So for the last two years I’ve had no help,” Bhatia said. “I was there for 14 years. I want to work, but not without help.”

Another problem Bhatia ran across was patient pain control. Schimmel was against medication for pain control and after examining the pain medications of all of Bhatia’s 1,400 patients, canceled the medication for 140.

“I called him and said a patient can go through withdrawal,” Bhatia said. “Withdrawals can kill people.” He added that he told Schimmel he could back down slowly on pain medication but Schimmel wanted stricter restrictions on pain medications. Bhatia said he felt pain medication should be between a doctor and patient, not under the rules of the Veterans Administration. He wanted the restrictions put in writing and Schimmel got upset, he said. Schimmel was not available for comment, but according to www.vitals.com, Schimmel is an internist, endocrinologist with 34 years of experience.

“Why are doctors being forced by the VA to not prescribe pain medication for people who are in pain and have served their country?” Bhatia said.

“I love my patients and they love me,” Bhatia said and gave a handful of his regular patients to use as a reference, including Joe Wauford, a Gallup cement contractor who has seen Bhatia for more than 10 years and said, “he’s a great doctor.”

Bhatia said yes, he does work at night at Cibola General Hospital but only on weekends. He has worked at Cibola General Hospital for 13 years.

“I think veterans deserve more care than we give them. Let us serve them as they deserve,” Bhatia said. “Let’s fulfill our commitment to them as we are a free nation because of them.”