♪ this is the "cbs overnight news." thanks for staying with us, this morning. cbs news is investigating troublie ining claims the way hundreds of veterans were treated in a veterans medical center. they say the problem was ignored even after being brought to light. in an exclusive interview, a whistle blow er said that the medical center failed to evaluate military members for traumatic brain injuries for years. >> reporter: a whistle blower said that veterans did not get

the care they needed for what the va called the signature wound of combat in iran and afghanistan. what sbthey say happened after they were confronted? >> he his gun on his chest and he would pull it to his head and pull it down. and pull it to his head, and pull it down. >> reporter: she is the wife of an iraq war vet who threatened suicide. how close were you to pulling the trigger? >> very close, i was convinced, it would be the best for everyone. >> reporter: they asked we conceal their identities. the vet, first sought treatment at the new orleans va in 2011. diagnosed with ptsd, his wife said her husband's issues went far psychological trauma. >> he is in physical pain 24/7.

>> reporter: they say he never got the mandated follow-up that would have provided a formal diagnosis and treatment plan for a physical injury. >> it's heartbreaking to watch him at home suffer the way he suffers because he feels like he is not doing enough. he is not trying hard enough. opposed to maybe, this is biological. >> this is more than a set of symptoms. >> reporter: in 2017, a va psychologyist started to see more and more cases like this. dug in to the data and something the did not add up. the new orleans va was diagnosises tbi in about one quarter the national rate. >> there were 1500 that needed to be looked at. >> reporter: so the doctor compiled the list of vets who he said screened positive for a possible tbi in new orleans, and never got the follow-up. what did you then do with the list? >> i found the people who treat

tbi. >> and it was a list compiled of veterans who basically had just slipped through the cracks. >> reporter: this nurse was on the team treating tbi at the new orleans va. >> there was no treatment being provided to them. >> reporter: she entertained pitching a plan for the boss. contact the vets on the list, and bring them in for evaluat n evaluation. his response was unbelievable. >> lose the list. >> reporter: i'm sorry. ? >> lose the list. >> reporter: you are a health care provider and you are asking to provide care for veterans that you have not provided care for. instead you are shut down? >> how can we not provide the care that we are there for. i took an oath when i became a nurse. >> reporter: the doctor that

ordered her to lose the list is the had he head of rehabilitati services and we wanted to hear what he had to say about how the va handles tbis, he declined the request for a interview. we went to the doctor's home. we identified ourselves. >> can we ask you a couple of questions. >> reporter: he was still unwilling to speak to us. what is he doing working at the va? >> i don't know. >> reporter: should he be? >> from what i know, no. these problems don't happen unless there's people who are allowing it to happen. >> reporter: sauder pressed the va to investigate. in a report never made public but obtained by cbs news, the va found that new orleans failed to provide the appropriate care to those veterans with positive screenings for tbi, and that they should receive additional

screening and treatment. did anybody from the va contact you and say, you fell through the cracks, come on back? >> negative. >> no. it's a farse, you know, they are our nation's heroes who deserve the best care. you know you are going in to some -- nothing can prepare you. how blatantly, inelbcredibly ba the deny of care is. >> in a statement, the va said that they did quote follow all of the recommendations outlined in the report and the doctor has the full confidence and support of the leadership team. the nurse resigned and filed a complaint claiming she was retaliated against for refusing to lose the list. as for the whistle blower, he retired from the va last month,

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first time. >> she attached her artificial leg and it was an equal measure of necessity and pain. after a car accident left her with a leg amputation, she spent weekends only doing things like did -- >> g-52. >> 094. >> playing bingo. but even that pro long sitting twisted the leg. >> my leg is completely off. >> we have pain from the socket's bigger circumference than my other leg, so you are sitting sideways that causes pain in your back and hip. >> reporter: to the point that walking out of the bingo parlor of the life she once had. >> hike, run, horseback ride, bowl. ski. >> have you been able to do this with the prosthesis? >> no, i cannot even walk very far. >> her walk was assessed by the

university of colorado hospital in aurora. >> you can see her upper torso is shifting over the right side. so that she can maintain her balance through -- >> her whole body is shifting. >> right. right. >> reporter: he decided that she qualified for a new kind of surgery called osteo-integration, it comes from latin for bone and integrate to make whole. the idea, insert a titanium rod in to the bone. over the course of several weeks the bone will grow around the rod and integrate it. >> the last one i had -- >> reporter: 1 part of the rod sticks out of the leg for a special prosthesis that can be snapped on and off. this woman lost her leg to cancer. >> i just go turning it this way. i have to tell myself, righty tighty, lefty loosy and it's off. i can feel it.

>> reporter: she has embraced had err fr her freedom. with her new leg, she did two million steps in the first ten months after surgery. what has it meant for your life? >> i can get out and enjoy my life, i can take care of my grandkids. i you can garden with them. i can do pretty much everything had that i could not do before but then i would be sitting in the house. >> reporter: with the gyroscope and a computer chip, the heg works with their. >> if i stepped on something that threw me off balance. it would tighten up. so it just make it firm so i would not fall down. >> reporter: and it may get better with nerves in the stomach that can be linked to the artificial limb, then the brain can control the limb as it does a normal arm or leg will. that is what the doctor who

helped develop osseo-integration in sweden is now exploring. we have already seen it a work in the movies. have you seen the movie star wars, do you remember the scene where luke's arm has been cut off -- and they attach a robot arm that can he can move his fingers and touch. that's what you are trying to do, isn't it? >> yeah. >> can you? >> i think we can. >> three weeks after her surgery. >> oh, my gosh. >> the first steps. >> i'm blown away right now. i'm kind of speechless. it's beyond what i ever even hoped or thought or imagined. i don't know even know what to say. it's crazy different. it feels like a part of me. >> for the first moment, since she lost her leg something to celebrate. >> no pain at all. >> we caught up with her four months after the surgery, after

the leg had become her new normal. >> are you getting close to the point where it just, you don't think about it anymore? >> i hope so. the main thing for me is moving my arms. i forget to do that and i will start walking like this. >> not just walking but she and her granddaughter do a step or two better. breaking in to dance. >> tada! >> new research shows playing brain games before surgery may lower the chances of a common, but post serious complication for older adults. >> sarah is grateful she can do the activities she enjoys, 2-1/2 years ago she needed spinal fusion surgery. >> my vertebrae would tip and so, the only time i was without pain was had whiwhen i was sitt. recovery was pretty good. >> she was at risk for having

postoperative delerium. there was a study that was seeing the playing brain games on a tablet can stop the brain from developing confusion. >> if you do the brain exercise before surgery is, it lowers your risk of having postoperative delirium, we had evidence that showed the more brain exercise you do, the better your risk reduction is. >> they are focused on memory, speed, attention and problem solving. patients who played 5-10 hours in the days leading up to surgery, cut their risk of delirium after surgery, by more had than half. >> this being such a common complication, we wanted to try to find an intervention that was accessesable to patients and have a good impact. >> i enjoyed the games, they were a lot of fun. so, in fact, i kind of missed them afterwards. >> sarah is glad she took part in the study. i did did not have problems

after the surgery at all. my mind was very clear. >> he said that

. a second grader in maryland can teach us all a lesson about caring for others. here is chip reid. >> i dream big. >> you dream big. >> he filled three trailers to help people that he never met. how did did you get truckloads of supplies some. >> it's magic. >> it's magic? >> it's operation magic. >> magic may be the only explanation that make sense that had this second grader raising money so is to fill trail ers and then had it taken to one of the poorest places in the nation. >> what is up, guys? >> cavanaugh first saw it on a

trip to mt. rushmore. >> they were grateful that somebody from 1500 miles away, that is only 7 put together this effort. >> for some kids that would be enough for one year. but cavanaugh saw the need back home. and began building these mobile pantries. he stocks them with supplies to help his community. >> how much of it is coming from you, and how much of it is coming from him? >> 95% is coming from him. i will though out something that i think is relatively doable and he will be like no, that is not enough. >> it started at age 4, he helped his mom send safe drinking water to flint, michigan. when kren kroen hit, he created care pangs for seniors so they would not have to go out shopping. >> hello. >> that's when big names noticed. >> in maryland, a 7-year-old boy used his own birthday money to buy meals for dozens of senior citizens. >> i have helped 8,126 people. so, i guess you could say i'm kind of busy. >> what? >> do you get nervous talking to

important famous people like kamala sna ampa harris? >> no. i get shaky and then i just clutch. >> you are clutch? >> yeah. >> thank you, cavanaugh! >> calf of a gn-- cavanaugh was that can confident. >> don't ever think you are alone. >> he once felt bullied by kids in preschool. >> i had a darkness inside of me. >> where did that come from? >> from them being mean? >> it gave him ip reid, gaithersburg, maryland. >> an impressive young man and that's the overnight news for this frimpt reporting from the

nation's capitol. it's friday, november 13th, 2020. this is the cbs morning news. uncontrolled spread, another day of record-breaking coronavirus cases. as the pandemic continues to worsen across the country, the latest major city to take drastic measures to stop the spread. padding his lead. overnight joe biden is projected the winner in arizona. what top federal officials are now saying about the security of our election. president obama speaks. the former commander in chief talks with cbs news about the state of our democracy and the current president's claims of election fraud. ♪ ♪ >