Gov't wants Ky. widow's suit over VA death tossed

In court papers filed Friday in East St. Louis, Ill., the government claimed that Katrina Shank--whose husband, Robert Shank III, apparently bled to death in August after gallbladder surgery at the Marion VA hospital--failed to file a required affidavit, a letter from an expert attesting there's a reasonable basis for the lawsuit.

Shank's attorney called the filing a stall tactic, saying Illinois requires such affidavits in malpractice cases filed in state courts but that they're not mandatory for malpractice cases filed in federal court.

"If the court feels it is required, we'll get one," attorney Stan Heller said.

In a separate filing Friday, U.S. attorneys asked a judge for more time to respond in writing to a similar lawsuit filed in April by Darla Marshall, whose husband, James, died of a blood infection in July 2007, six days after he underwent a lymph node biopsy at the hospital.

The government's response had been due Monday. There were no court hearings scheduled on either lawsuit.

Katrina Shank seeks $12 million in damages, Darla Marshall $10 million.

Randy Massey, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Fairview Heights, Ill., declined on Monday to elaborate on the government's position on the lawsuits. Messages left Monday with the VA's headquarters in Washington were not immediately returned.

The suits name only the U.S. government, which runs the Veterans Affairs system that includes the Marion hospital.

Robert Shank and James Marshall were patients of surgeon Jose Veizaga-Mendez, who resigned three days after Robert Shank's death.