Glenn Cohen v. Department of Veteran Affairs

── Glenn Cohen v. Department of Veteran Affairs ── Court: Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit Date: June 08, 2026 Category: NEW USCA11 Case: 25-11523 Document: 38-1 Date Filed: 06/08/2026 Page: 1 of 10 NOT FOR PUBLICATION In the United States Court of Appeals For the Eleventh Circuit ____________________ No. 25-11523 Non-Argument Calendar ____________________ GLENN SCOTT COHEN, Plaintiff-Appellant, versus DEPARTMENT OF VETERAN AFFAIRS, Defendant-Appellee. ____________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida D.C. Docket No. 9:24-cv-80706-RLR ____________________ Before ROSENBAUM, GRANT, and ED CARNES, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: Glenn Cohen had two ganglion cysts removed from his lower left leg at West Palm Beach VA Medical Center (VA hospital) in 2015. By the end of 2019, he noticed the cysts had returned and USCA11 Case: 25-11523 Document: 38-1 Date Filed: 06/08/2026 Page: 2 of 10 2 Opinion of the Court 25-11523 he had a painful varicose vein in the same leg. He underwent di- agnostic testing for venous insufficiency at the VA hospital on De- cember 22, 2020, and after the results were negative for that, he sought a second opinion. After a non-VA doctor diagnosed him with venous insufficiency, Cohen filed a Standard Form 95 claim for injury (SF-95) with the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) on August 29, 2022. In that form he alleged that the VA hospital had committed medical malpractice on December 22, 2020, by not di- agnosing him with venous insufficiency then. He claimed that the VA hospital had misdiagnosed the problem with his left leg, and because of that, he was now “being treated for the latest problem with a venous eczema rash.” In June 2024, proceeding pro se, he sued the VA in federal court for medical malpractice.1 After allowing Cohen one oppor- tunity to amend the complaint, the district court dismissed Cohen’s amended complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and fail- ure to state a claim for which relief can be granted. Cohen, still proceeding pro se, timely appealed. Because he did not challenge on appeal one of the district court’s alternative grounds for dismis- sal and because the district court did not abuse its discretion in dis- missing Cohen’s amended complaint without leave to amend, we affirm. 1 Because Cohen had opted to seek a judicial remedy by filing this lawsuit, the VA denied his administrative claim in December 2024. USCA11 Case: 25-11523 Document: 38-1 Date Filed: 06/08/2026 Page: 3 of 10 25-11523 Opinion of the Court 3 I. Cohen’s original complaint alleged that in 2015, the VA op- erated on his left leg to remove ganglion cysts and after a second operation at some unspecified date, “a varicose vein started bulging out of [his] leg and [his] ankle start[ed] swelling.” He asserted that “[t]hey said nothing was wrong and I have venous insufficiency in the leg.” 2 With that complaint he submitted several pages of his VA hospital medical record, which show that he was “last seen in surgery” in January 2019, and in 2020, he c