A Marine veteran from Deltona, Fla., says he's "really disappointed" in the Veterans Administration after being locked inside a community clinic for three hours in Orange City Monday, WKMG-Orlando reports.
It's just another bad news story for a government agency riddled with reports of corruption and incompetence:
Jeffrey Duck tells Local 6 he arrived as a "walk in" patient at the clinic located on S. Volusia Avenue at 1 p.m. Monday.
He says he sat waiting in a consultation room for more than three hours before he realized he was the only one left in the building.
"I was apparently left there and forgotten," said Duck.
Locked inside and worried that he would be accused of trying to steal something, Duck whipped out his cellphone to take video of him walking around the lobby, which set off the burglar alarm.
He called 911.
"I apparently got left in a VA facility -- a medical facility -- and the alarm has been going off," he told the operator.
"So, you're inside and there's no employees?" the operator asked.
"None that I can see," he said.
The Veterans Administration issued an apology to Duck on Tuesday, saying, "We want to apologize to Mr. Duck for his experience yesterday at the Orange City VA Community Based Outpatient Clinic."
"We are looking at our closing procedures and will make changes to ensure that this does not happen again," VA administrators stated.
Duck said he's not angry.
"I'm kind of disappointed; really disappointed," he said. "There's a lot going on with the VA right now, they're all over the news. Everybody knows what's going on with them."
Duck says he hopes his story will help shine attention on other problem areas within the medical operations.
"There's a lot of people with bigger problems than me," he said.