In brief: Spokane VA hospital still understaffed

The emergency room at the Spokane’s Veterans Affairs hospital will not go back to 24-hour-a-day staffing by April as originally planned.

Hours for the emergency room were cut from 24 hours a day to 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. in December because of staffing shortages. The hospital is also no longer accepting patients that are transported by ambulance. At the time, local VA officials said the hospital planned to resume full service this spring.

Under questioning by U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, U.S. Veterans Affairs Interim Under Secretary for Health Dr. Carolyn Clancy said during a Senate hearing Thursday that the date to reopen the ER full time will be “pushed back a few months.”

Staffing is still an issue, Clancy said.

“We have had significant recruiting problems,” Clancy told the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, where Murray is a senior member.

Murray called the delay “unacceptable.”

State court upholds attorney’s suspension

Washington’s Supreme Court unanimously ruled on Thursday against a Spokane Valley attorney suspended for failing to properly represent a client.

The Washington State Bar Association’s Disciplinary Board suspended Matthew Pfefer for six months due to his actions representing a King County woman in 2010 and 2011 who was injured in an automobile accident.

The board determined he failed to comply with court deadlines, meet with his client in preparation for trial and tell his client about a proposed settlement. He also, according to the board, violated court rules by withdrawing as her attorney without giving notice.

“In short, he did nothing to meet his basic responsibility to protect his client’s interest, with the result that a viable settlement offer lapsed and her claim is now barred by the statute of limitations,” the court’s ruling said.

The court also upheld an order for Pfefer to pay $5,834.14 in restitution – the amount of the settlement his client had been offered minus costs from her case.

Wife of ex-NIC worker files for divorce

The wife of Joseph M. Bekken has filed for divorce one week after the former North Idaho College financial aid director was arrested on charges for allegedly soliciting sex from students in exchange for scholarship money.

Molly G. Bekken, an instructor in NIC’s College Skills Division, filed the paperwork with the district court late Wednesday.

The college fired Joseph Bekken on Feb. 2, when officials discovered his alleged scheme to entice a student into a sexual encounter with $587 in NIC Foundation funds.

He is in the Kootenai County Jail, where his bail is set at $100,000. Bekken’s preliminary hearing is set for Thursday.

His charges include attempting to procure a prostitute and bribery.

Joseph and Molly Bekken previously worked at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix.