During Memorial Day weekend, people take the time to honor the men and women who died while serving in the county's armed forces.

  • Brevard County veteran concerned about VA safety procedures
  • Leonard Widman wants more employees to go through training

A West Melbourne veteran, however, said he feels like the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is failing the service members who are alive.

Leonard Widman served in the Air Force for 12 years, including during Vietnam. He's proud to have served his country, but he said he's not proud of the way the Orlando Veteran Affairs Medical Center treated him.

"I felt terrible," he said. "I was angry. I was more angry than upset."

Earlier this month, Widman said he was in an operating room on a stretcher ready to be put under anesthesia for a hernia operation.

"The anesthesiologist just had a general question, it wasn't even a regular question," Widman recalls. "He said, 'Have you had a stroke?' I said, 'Yes, I had a stroke.' He said, 'When did you have a stroke?' I said three months ago in January, and everything just stopped."

Experts advise stroke patients to wait about nine months before having a nonemergency surgical procedure done.

"I said to the anesthesiologist, 'Let me ask you a question. What would have happened if you didn't ask me that question?' He said one of two things could have happened: you wouldn't have woken up or you would have woke up as a vegetable."

Widman even went through some pre-operative procedures in anticipation for the surgery, which is something he feels like could have been avoided.

"They put me on these injections. I had to take 22 times on my stomach," he said. "Self-inject myself 22 times. It was a bridge shot to get you off Coumadin because they can't operate on Coumadin."

Widman said he complained to the VA about the incident that he fears could have killed him. He also said he was in no rush to get the surgery done, especially because he's been living with a hernia for eight years. Medical staff scheduled the procedure for him, he said.

The veteran said he wishes the person who cleared him for surgery would have been more attentive to his medical record.

"If he's doing that job clearing you, he has to get some training to prove he is," Widman said. "That's all I'm asking for. I am not asking for him to be fired, I am not asking him to be penalized financially, but he has to go for retraining."

The VA issued the following statement: "The safety of our patients is paramount. During the pre-operative medical record review, a history of a previous stroke was identified. Since the surgery was elective, the surgeon and anesthesiologist made a decision to postpone the surgery to minimize risk. We apologized for any inconvenience this may have caused for him and his family."

Widman, however, said an apology isn't enough.

"I don't want this to happen," he said. "I don’t want anybody else to have to go through this for no reason."