VA: 19 deaths in Illinois traced to care

Substandard care at a southern Illinois Veterans Affairs hospital may have contributed to 19 deaths over the past two years. The hospital in Marion, IL, initially drew scrutiny over deaths connected to a single surgeon, but two federal reports found fault with five other doctors. The hospital undertook many surgeries that its staffing or lack of proper surgical expertise made it ill-equipped to handle, and hospital administrators were too slow to respond once problems surfaced.