Vet forgotten, locked inside Orange City VA clinic

Marine from Deltona says he waited in consultation room for 3 hours

DELTONA, Fla. – A Marine veteran from Deltona says he's very disappointed in the Veterans Administration after he was locked inside the community clinic in Orange City on Monday.

Jeffrey Duck said 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.


About the Author:

Erik Sandoval joined the News 6 team as a reporter in May 2013 and became an Investigator in 2020. During his time at News 6, Erik has covered several major stories, including the 2016 Presidential campaign. He was also one of the first reporters live on the air at the Pulse Nightclub shooting.