St. Louis Man Wins $8.3 Million Malpractice Award Against John Cochran VA Hospital

Army Veteran, Dirk Askew was awarded $8.3 million in federal court after losing a leg and suffering severe brain damage from what should have been a routine procedure at John Cochran VA Medical Center.

Askew had a cardiac stent inserted after complaining of chest pain, which later resulted in swelling and bleeding in his right upper thigh. A week later, he had another surgery to repair the artery at the wound site and an infection was discovered.

Because of the delay before the corrective surgery, Askew suffered from significant blood loss that led to a severe brain injury. It was later discovered that the surgeons used infected tissue to attempt to fix the artery.

Askew is now paralyzed and mostly non-communicative while his wife, Beulah, is his primary caretaker.

Since Askew’s incident, John Cochran VA Medical Center has been shut down and re-opened after extensive cleaning procedures have been met.