The unthinkable happened Monday. A 71-year-old veteran collapsed inside a cafeteria at an Albuquerque Veteran Affairs hospital. VA spokeswoman Sonja Brown told ABC News that staff followed the proper protocol and called 911 when the veteran collapsed. The veteran was only 500 yards from the emergency room. Yet he died while having to wait twenty minutes for an ambulance.

Officials at the hospital said while it took the ambulance approximately twenty minutes to be dispatched to take the vet from one building to another, it was only about a five-minute walk, per Newser.com.

Ms. Brown reported that Kirtland Air Force Medical Group personnel performed CPR after 911 was called, while waiting for the ambulance to arrive. As ridiculous as this sounds, Ms. Brown states that “Our policy is under expedited review.” It’s too bad it wasn’t under review before a vet had to lose his life.

It didn’t take long for this news to spread like wildfire throughout the VA hospital. And ABC News reports that Lorenzo Calbert, who is an Army veteran of the Vietnam War, stated how sad it was that a fellow vet had to die when he was so close to where he could have received help.

“There’s no reason for it,” he said. “They have so many workers. They could have put him on the gurney and run faster than that ambulance,” said Calbert, per ABC News.

The timing for this sad incident could not have come at a worse time. It follows on the heels of a review done just last week of the Department of Veterans Affairs. The review cited “significant and chronic system failures” in the nation’s health system for veterans, per ABC News.

As a result, the Department of Veterans Affairs continues to receive scrutiny in relation to reports of veterans dying while on waiting lists with long delays for needed treatment and medical appointments.

Rob Nabors, Deputy White House chief of staff even, stated that the Veterans Health Administration has continued to “ignore warnings about its deficiencies and it must be fundamentally restructured.” It’s reported that this Veterans Health Administration provides health care to over 8 million vets a year. Hopefully, something will be done to ensure these our U.S. veterans are getting the healthcare they need and deserve.

Newser.com reports that the family of this vet that passed away refuses to allow his name to be released while they are deciding whether or not to press charges.

Rep. Michelle Grisham reveals that her office has been trying to get a response from the VA for days. Rep. Grisham says she is trying to determine “whether its policy may have contributed to the delay in care,” per Newser.com.

Regardless, Grisham continues to say, “the inability of officials to answer basic questions in a timely fashion is yet another reason the public has lost faith, and why we are demanding an outside investigation and immediate reform at the Albuquerque VA.”

Our condolences to the family of this veteran. May he R.I.P.

Photo credit: Everythinglubbock.com