I-Team: Local veteran gets another vet's medical records in the mail
RALEIGH (WTVD) -- A major mix-up of medical records has two North Carolina veterans speaking out.
Sen. Kay Hagan's office in Greensboro sent out the wrong medical file to the wrong person. It appears to be a basic name mix-up. Both men are Kenneth White, but they have different middle names.
"It makes a big difference," said the Kenneth White who got the wrong records, "with me being Kenneth A. White, as opposed to the young man I got was Kenneth D. White."
Kenneth A. White says four or five months ago he sent a request for VA records to Hagan's Greensboro office and, a few days ago, he got a heavy envelope from Hagan's office in the mail. Inside were hundreds of pages of medical information for Kenneth D. White.
"This wasn't gotten over the internet," Kenneth D. White fumed. "This was sent from the U.S. government. That's all my personal medical records, all my personal information -- sent to another individual. I'm appalled and I'm very upset about that."
Senator Hagan offered this statement: "My office handles tens of thousands of constituent cases, and we strive to do our best to resolve each case in a timely and accurate manner. As soon as we learned of this situation, which was caused by a clerical error, my office took immediate corrective action and I sincerely apologize to all those involved."
Still, both Kenneth Whites say, for them, this was more than a clerical error.
"Naw, it's not a simple clerical error this is a huge mistake," said Kenneth D. White, who says he plans to contact a lawyer.
"When you send out a soldier's information to another person," said Kenneth A. White, "that's not a mistake."
Some have wondered, given the timing of the story and the fact that Kenneth D. White contacted ABC11 before Sen. Hagan's office, if this isn't a Republican-driven attempt to deep-six Hagan's campaign.
White says he's a long-time Democrat. He's just upset about getting another veteran's medical records in his mailbox.
