Health Highlights: July 1, 2014

Health Highlights: July 1, 2014

Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by the editors of HealthDay:

VA Offers Medical Appointment to Veteran Two Years After His Death

The Veterans Affairs Department recently offered a medical appointment to a Vietnam veteran who died nearly two years ago, the man’s wife says.

Suzanne Chase, of Acton, Mass., said her husband Doug was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2011. In 2012, they tried to get him into the VA hospital in Bedford, but waited four months and never heard back from the VA, the Associated Press reported.

Doug died in August 2012. Two weeks ago, Suzanne received a letter from the VA addressed to her husband, telling him to call to make an appointment. Suzanne said the VA knew her husband was dead because she applied for funeral benefits and was denied.

In a statement, the VA said: “We regret any distress our actions caused to the veteran’s widow and family,” the AP reported.