U.S. Army Veteran Sues VA for Medical Malpractice

Walker, a 49-year-old father of six, went to the VA hospital in July 2023 suffering from fatigue and swelling in his leg.  Despite a blood test and lab results detecting Streptococcus mutans (a type of bacteria), Walker was never prescribed antibiotics and his infection was left untreated for several weeks. (If this type of bacteria reaches the heart, “patients may die of various complications if proper treatments are not performed”, according to a PMC article from the American Society for Microbiology.)

After Walker left the hospital, he had several in-person or phone conversations with doctors or nurses, but his infection was never discussed. Less than a month later, Walker, barely able to walk, went back to the Hines VA emergency room with a high fever.
In the weeks after he left the hospital, Walker had at least five conversations with doctors or nurses, either in person or by phone, but he never received word of his infection, according to court documents. On Aug. 11, 2023, Walker returned to the Hines VA emergency room. He had a fever of 103 degrees. He could barely walk. That’s when medical staff realized a catastrophic error: Walker not been treated for Streptococcus mutans, and he wasn’t even told that he had it!

Walker required heart surgery to repair the damage from the infection. Two weeks later, he suffered his first stroke. When Walker woke up in hospital bed surrounded by tubes and machinery, “He couldn’t know the real nightmare was only beginning, of losing sight and cognition and, for a while, the ability to walk,” wrote the Chicago Tribune. Videos show Walker trying to follow instructions on how to take just one step. He looks exhausted. “It’s heartbreaking that I was an outgoing individual a provider and now I am no longer that person” Walker told ABC News.

Now, Walker can no longer work, drive or leave the house on his own. He has difficulties walking and has lost some vision in both eyes. Sometimes he can’t articulate – he has trouble finding or understanding words. After suffering two strokes, a neuropsychological evaluation explained that “The test results showed major problems with thinking skills, which means that you have a major neurocognitive disorder… “Your thinking skills will likely not fully return.”

The Walkers shared their anguish with the Chicago Tribune, questioning: How could something like this have happened? How could personnel they trusted at the VA miss something so obvious? “The medical system is supposed to help you and keep you as safe as possible…if he had been prescribed the medication that was needed we would not be here today,” said Rosemary Walker.

Although Hines staff acknowledged the VA hospital’s role in the failures that left Walker disabled and Rosemary Walker his caregiver, all it offered was an apology. Like a slap in the face. In a February 2024 letter, one of Walker’s doctors wrote that he “was not notified” of the positive lab result. In another document, labeled as an “institutional disclosure of adverse event,” the hospital’s “chief of staff apologised (sic) on behalf of the facility leadership and discussed the process failure for missing the lab result and delay in care which may have caused the harm of complications Walker has now, reported the Chicago Tribune.

The Walkers’ lawyer in a press release said “This tragedy was preventable…The VA had every opportunity to step in. They didn’t. Now a veteran who gave everything for his country has lost his health, his livelihood, and his independence.”

The personal injury – medical malpractice lawsuit accuses the VA of negligence after pursuing all other forms of redress. The case is Case No.: 1:2025-cv-10275, Walker et al. v. United States of America was filed August 27, 2025 in U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois