Vet Lost Leg, Can’t Access His Rio Home

RIO GRANDE — Jim Ernest, a Vietnam War veteran who was based in Thailand working with B-52s and tanker aircraft for mid-air refueling, lost a leg and a hip to cancer. He claims it was due to the incompetence of a veterans hospital.
Due to a major amputation, Ernest is unable to climb the steps to his trailer. He is also having difficulty getting in and out of a van he drives.
Ernest awoke one morning and noticed one of his legs was swollen. It turned out to be a lump is his groin that was causing the leg swelling. He was 64 years old at the time, too young for Medicare and he had no medical insurance.
Ernest was eligible for federal Veterans Affairs benefits and saw a doctor at the outpatient clinic at the Coast Guard base in Cape May.
He said the doctor suspected a blood clot and sent him to an imaging facility in Somers Point, but was turned away because the company “no longer deals with the VA because they don’t pay their bills,” he said.
Ernest said he explained he was driving around alone with a possible blood clot and thought if the clot broke lose if could kill him, and he risked causing a accident. He said the imaging center manager told him they would not help him.
Ernest said he then went to Shore Memorial Hospital where he was told it was not an emergency room problem, so there was nothing that could be done.
He made an appointment at the Veterans Affairs Hospital in Elsmere, Del.
There, at the Wilmington VA Medical Center, he received an ultrasound, which did not find a blood clot. The test showed some “strange liquid in his groin.” A doctor scheduled Ernest for a CAT scan.
He returned two weeks later for the CAT scan and was told the test suggested he had lymphoma.
“However, he completely ignored the swollen leg,” said Ernest.
The doctor ordered a biopsy of the lymph nodes to determine the type of cancer. After another two weeks, Ernest met with the doctor who told him a biopsy of the lymph nodes found no problems.
He asked the doctor why his leg was swollen, what was the lump in his groin and the liquid that was found?
“You have a swollen leg?” asked the doctor, said Ernest. “So he says to me real cold, ‘Take a water pill,’ and he walked out of the office.”
He returned to the outpatient clinic in Cape May and told the doctor there of his experience with the Delaware VA hospital.
“I was taking a water pill and the leg was getting bigger and the pain was getting worse,” said Ernest. “I got to the point that I was on crutches.”
He returned to the doctor at the VA hospital who noted the lump was harder and bigger and another CAT scan was ordered. Ernest said the doctor called him and told him there was bad news.
The doctor told him he had a rare cancer and “You’ll probably live two months to two years.” Ernest said the doctor told him to return to the VA hospital for needle biopsy of the affected area.
He returned to the VA hospital, but the biopsy could not be undertaken since Ernest had taken blood thinner medication, and had not been informed not to do so before the test. He was told to return in two weeks.
“I got to talking to a couple of veteran friends and they said. ‘Get the hell out of there before they kill you,” he recalled.
Ernest went to Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia. He had turned 65 and was eligible for Medicare. A biopsy of the liquid in his groin was taken at Fox Chase.
He said the cancer was growing larger following the biopsy at the VA hospital and the pain had become unbearable. At Fox Chase, Ernest’s leg, hip and pelvis were removed.
The Fox Chase doctor disagreed with the VA hospital diagnosis that Ernest’s cancer was inoperable and he had two years or less to live. The doctor at Fox Chase told him he would be cancer-free following surgery.
He had the amputations Jan. 14 and went to a rehabilitation facility for seven months.
“The VA has literally done nothing, they wouldn’t pay for the prosthetic, they just denied everything,” said Ernest. “They caused the problem.”
A Fox Chase doctor told Ernest his cancer would have been clearly visible on the CAT scans taken by the VA hospital. He questioned why they did not investigate the lump.
“He said ‘They could have scraped that out of there because it was small and you would have been fine,’” said Ernest. “He said ‘However they didn’t do anything, the cancer got aggressive,’”
He told the Fox Chase doctor the VA hospital intended to use chemotherapy and radiation to treat the cancer. Ernest said the Fox Chase doctor told him that treatment would have had no effect on that type of cancer.
The cancer is a rare form caused by exposure to Agent Orange, widely used defoliant in the Southeast Asian war. Ernest said if it had been treated with radiation and chemotherapy at the VA hospital, he would have died in two months to two years because the cancer would have continued in an aggressive manner.
He has presented a case to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for 100 percent disability. Ernest has an attorney and a VA advocate.
“I got a letter from them last week and they denied amputation, denied this and denied that and they picked up from when I cancelled the last appointment and went to Fox Chase. They said it was my fault because I should have continued (at the VA hospital),” said Ernest.
In the meantime, he cannot navigate to get into his small trailer, which is too close to a neighboring mobile home to build a ramp.
Ernest needs a hydraulic lift to get him into his home. He also needs a lift for his van. The VA has refused to help.
The VA did not provide a prosthetic leg, but he was able to obtain one through Medicare and Medicaid. He said it is out of adjustment and does not work well.
He is unable to work as a writer and photographer because he cannot access his equipment in his trailer or get to locations. Ernest had web page building skills.
“They have completely ruined me as far as work,” he said. “As a veteran, you’re thrown aside.”
Ernest was an engineer for Sperry-Univac for 16 years and remembers when computers had tubes and one computer filled an entire room and had 1K of memory. He started his own photography studio and taught photography and Photoshop at Cape May County Technical School.
Ernest and fellow veteran Ron Collins are setting up a veterans’ self help group through Seashore Community Church of Nazarene, Erma. Ernest said he would also like to start an online newspaper for veterans called Bits and Pieces News.
In the meantime, he would just like to be able to get into his trailer and hopes someone can help him with a solution.
He can be emailed at: ErnestJP@gmail.com or (609) 408-1342.