US

Marine Veteran Literally Locked Inside A VA Clinic And Forgotten About

Tristyn Bloom Contributor
Font Size:

Retired U.S. Marine Jeffrey Duck was locked inside a Veterans Affairs clinic and forgotten about when the clinic closed without telling him, WKMG reported Tuesday.

Duck, who had gone to the Orange City clinic in Florida to get a prescription, was taken to a small room where he waited for three hours before realizing everyone else in the building had left for the day and that he’d been locked inside.

Worried he’d be accused of breaking in, he filmed himself walking around the empty clinic on his cellphone and eventually called 911 to get someone to let him out. Duck says he arrived at 1 PM and that he didn’t notice the clinic was closed until 4, even though the stated hours on their website say they’re open until 4:30 every weekday.

WATCH:

“I’m kind of disappointed, and really disappointed because, you know, there’s a lot going on in the VA right now, you know, they’re all over the news. Everybody knows what’s going on with them,” he said. (RELATED: VA Destroyed Veteran Medical Records To Delete Exam Requests)

The VA immediately apologized, saying “We are looking at our closing procedures and will make changes to ensure that this does not happen again.” (RELATED: Florida VA Hospital Threw Out State Inspectors)

Duck says he hopes that “getting my story out like this will help take care of some of the problems in the VA nationally and help some of the other vets and get their problems fixed, because there’s a lot of people with problems a lot bigger than mine.” (RELATED: Yet Another VA Medical Center Scandal)

Follow Tristyn on Twitter.