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PARKERSBURG -- A second suspicious death at the Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center in Clarksburg has been ruled a homicide, National Public Radio and USA Today reported.
A military medical examiner determined George Nelson Shaw Sr., 81, Wallace, W.Va., died because of an injection of insulin, the newspaper reported.
Shaw, an Air Force veteran, died April 10, 2018, the day after Ellenboro, W.Va., resident Felix K. McDermott died while in the care of the medical center. The medical examiner also ruled McDermott's death a homicide by an injection of insulin causing extremely low blood sugar, hypoglycemia.
McDermott's daughter, Melanie Proctor, filed a wrongful death claim with the Department of Veterans Affairs that disclosed investigators believe nine or 10 other veterans died under similar circumstances and there was a person of interest in the deaths.
Federal investigators last year asked the Shaw family to exhume Shaw's body for an autopsy. The family was told last month of the results of the examination, according to USA Today.
The autopsy at the Dover Air Force Base in Delaware found Shaw was injected four times with insulin, twice in the left arm, once on the right arm and once on the right thigh, the newspaper said. Like McDermott, Shaw was not diabetic and insulin was never prescribed for him, according to the newspaper.
Shaw worked at the medical center for eight years after he retired from the Air Force following 28 years of service, according to his obituary at the Dorsey Funeral Home in Shinnston.
Shaw's family couldn't be reached for comment Thursday. A message for attorney David Glover of Clarksburg, representing the Shaw family, was not immediately returned.
McDermott's family is represented by attorneys Tony O'Dell and Harry Deitzler.
On Tuesday, Veterans Affairs Inspector General Michael J. Missal said his office is investigating allegations of "potential wrongdoing" at the medical center and is working with law enforcement partners. Missal's release was the first public acknowledgment of an investigation into suspicious deaths.
A message for comment from the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of West Virginia Thursday was not immediately returned.
On Monday, U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., a member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, said he was told by Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie and Dr. Glenn Snider, the director of the medical center, that the person of interest is no longer in contact with patients at the facility.
Manchin on Thursday afternoon said he sent a letter to Attorney General William Barr asking for every resource of the Department of Justice in the investigation into the suspicious deaths.
"I am writing to follow-up on our conversation and re-emphasize my grave concerns over the pace of the investigation and lack of information being made available to West Virginia veterans and their families concerning the potential homicides at the Louis A. Johnson Medical Center in Clarksburg, West Virginia," Manchin said in the letter to Barr. "Due to the lack of information being made available to the public by investigators, veterans across my state are losing confidence in the safety, security, and quality of their VA healthcare."
On Wednesday, Manchin issued a press release that said he spoke with Missal on Wednesday and also sent a letter to him and to Wilkie urging a quick conclusion of the investigations.
Thursday's press release, like the Wednesday release about the letter to Missal and Wilkie, included a timetable from when Manchin first learned of the investigation.
¯ July 5, 2018, Manchin's office was notified by the inspector general that at least nine in-patients at the Clarksburg VA hospital had been diagnosed with significant hypoglycemia of unclear cause over the past nine months and that they opened a medical and criminal investigation.
¯ July 6, 2018, Dr. Glenn Snider, director of the hospital, hosted a call with the West Virginia congressional delegation to discuss the investigation. He reported: on June 18, 2018, several doctors reported eight episodes of low blood sugar with no identified medical cause to the Clarksburg Quality Management team; on June 26, 2018, the Quality Management team took the issue to Snider, who then called Under Secretary Steve Young at the VA Central Office; July 2-3, 2018, seven staff members of the inspector general came to the medical center to open an investigation.
¯ July 10, 2018, Manchin sent a letter to then-Acting Secretary of the VA Peter O'Rourke expressing his concern about the unexplained episodes of hypoglycemia at the hospital and he expected VA leadership at every level to fully cooperate with the inspector general's investigation.