4 resign from Oklahoma VA facility after maggots found in veteran’s wound

Three nurses and a physician's assistant have resigned from an Oklahoma Department of Veterans Affairs facility after maggots were discovered in a veteran's wound.

The center in Talihina, Oklahoma, has reportedly had staffing issues.

According to a report by the Tulsa World, the veteran, Owen Reese Peterson, 73, who served during the Vietnam War, arrived at the center with an infection prior to his Oct. 3 death.

Oklahoma Secretary of Veterans Affairs Myles Deering, a retired major general in the Oklahoma National Guard, claimed that Peterson "did not succumb as a result of the parasites" but instead died from sepsis.

According to WebMD.com, sepsis is a "serious medical condition" that is triggered when chemicals released to fight an infection in the body instead cause inflammation. It can lead to organ failure and death. As many as half of those with severe cases of sepsis end up dead.

"During the 21 days I was there, ... I pleaded with the medical staff, the senior medical staff, to increase his meds so his bandages could be changed," Raymie Parker, Peterson's son, told the Tulsa World. Parker claimed that his requests were "met with a stonewall" by senior medical personnel and administrators.

"The Oklahoma Department of Veterans Affairs is required to maintain certain staffing levels and currently is unable to meet them," Oklahoma State Sen. Frank Simpson, Senate Committee on Military and Veterans Affairs chairman, said. "At Talihina, they had to reduce the population of veterans there due to the inability to staff the facility."

The four personnel resigned prior to the commencement of termination proceedings. In 2012, the Oklahoma Department of Veterans Affairs was rocked when two veterans — 86-year-old Louis Arterberry and 85-year-old Jay Minter — died in the Claremore Veterans Center. Minter died after he was scalded in a whirlpool, and Arterberry died of a stroke.

A physician's assistant was indicted on two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of caretaker neglect. He ultimately served a 90-day jail sentence.