Veteran dies at VA hospital after maggots found in wound

TALIHINA, Okla. — Four staff members at an Oklahoma VA hospital

after a 73-year-old veteran receiving treatment died, according to

and other outlets.

Raymie Parker says his father, Owen Reese Peterson, died Oct. 3 after being treated at the Talihina Veterans Center. Before Peterson died, his wounds were so neglected that maggots reportedly began to grow under his bandages. Parker claims that his pleas for help were ignored before his father’s death.

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Myles Deering, executive director of the Oklahoma Department of Veterans Affairs, has attributed the veteran’s death to sepsis, a life-threatening complication of an infection. He says the maggots did not cause Peterson's infection.

Four staffers at the hospital have been named in the investigation. All four, including the hospital’s director of nursing, quit before they could be investigated or terminated.

The case has been referred to the Oklahoma State Department of Health and the District Attorney’s Office for LeFlore and Latimer counties to determine if cause exists to file criminal charges.

It’s another mark against the Oklahoma Department of Veteran’s Affairs. In 2012, a

.

Cox Media Group