DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Department of Veterans Affairs has paid an Iowa veteran $550,000 to settle his allegation that he suffered life-shortening heart damage because of a three-year delay in treatment. John Porter, of Greenfield, sued last year in federal court after he says VA staff overlooked a 2011 test result showing his heart was failing. The 68-year-old Porter told the Des Moines Register on Friday he was glad he lived long enough to see the case settled.

Porter’s lawsuit says no VA doctors told Porter of the findings of the 2011 test that showed his heart was failing. Only three years later did doctors at an Arizona VA hospital, where he had gone for shortness of breath, find the 2011 test results and inform Porter.