The head of the Miami Veterans Affairs Health Care System was questioned by the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee over the improper use of medical equipment that led to mistakes "that may have exposed thousands of veterans to diseases such as HIV and hepatitis." [Miami Herald]

Father Tim Vakoc, injured in a roadside bombing in 2004, passed away from his injuries, which included brain injuries and the loss of an eye. The Catholic priest is the first chaplain to die in the course of the war in Iraq. He was 49. [Tacoma News Tribune]

Despite efforts to work through the backlog, slow resolution of veterans' claims are rising to a new height - an estimated 900,000 and rising. [St Petersburg Times]

Some veterans being treated for prostate cancer in a Philadelphia VA hospital got more than they bargained for. The doctor in charge of injecting the radioactive "seeds" put them in the wrong organs.

Then he rewrote his reports. [New York Times]

11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has dismissed most of a suit brought by veterans whose records were lost when a  government hard drive containing the medical histories and Social Security numbers went missing. The court did say that they could recover some money if they could show "mental anguish."  [Wired]

Secretary Shinseki has been pushing for updating the computer systems and more coordination, and the project is on its way. The goal, as reported earlier, is to have a system where the DOD and the VA electronically keep track and exchange information. [Washington Post]

Lt. Col. Danny Dudek lost the use of his feet to a roadside bomb in Iraq but it hasn't stood in his way of taking command of the Warrior Transition Battalion at Fort Lewis in Washington state. [Tacoma News Tribune]

A second report looking at colonoscopies at VA hospitals shows that many aren't doing well as to safety. [CNN]

The Military Construction-Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee approved on a voice vote $132.2 billion appropriation for Veterans Affairs for fiscal 2010. It is more than the White House requested. [CQ Politics]

Maj. Phil Packer of the British Royal Military Police, paralyzed from the waist down in 2008 during his tour in Basra Iraq, was told he would never walk again. He refused to accept that.

Last week, he climbed the face of El Capitan in Yosemite in support for Help for Heroes, a charity for disabled veterans. He also walked all 26.2 miles of the London Marathon... on crutches. It took him two weeks.  [Merced Sun-Star]