tacitus
03-28-2009, 05:00 PM
VA Won't Discuss Extent of Colonoscopies It Performed With Improperly Sterilized Equipment
VA Won't Discuss Extent of Equipment Contamination (http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=45744)
Friday, March 27, 2009
By Bill Poovey, Associated Press
Chattanooga, Tenn. - Thousands of military veterans across the South are waiting to find out if they were exposed to infectious diseases by government clinics that performed colonoscopies and other procedures with equipment that wasn't properly sterilized.
Veterans Affairs officials won't say if mistakes that may have exposed patients to infections at medical centers in Tennessee and Florida and a clinic in Georgia have been discovered elsewhere.
The VA recently warned veterans who had colonoscopies as far back as five years ago at its hospitals in Murfreesboro, Tenn., and Miami that they may have been exposed to the body fluids of other patients and should undergo tests to make sure they haven't contracted serious illnesses.
“What if you had to worry about giving your wife AIDS?” said Wayne Craig, a 52-year-old U.S. Navy veteran who lives in Elora and had a colonoscopy at the VA's Alvin C. York Medical Center in Murfreesboro, near Nashville, about five years ago. “Why haven't I been notified within five years?”
The VA declined to answer four Associated Press requests over the past week about the results of what the department described as a nationwide procedure and training review that was to end March 14. VA spokeswoman Laurie Tranter said the department planned to issue a response later Thursday.
The review of all VA medical centers and outpatient clinics followed reports in February that the department discovered “improperly reprocessed” endoscopic equipment used for colonoscopies in Murfreesboro and ear, nose and throat exams in Augusta, Ga.
Just this week, the VA acknowledged problems at a facility in Miami, too.
I advise anyone that has had any treatment in a VA facility that was invasive in nature, see a private physician.
VA Won't Discuss Extent of Equipment Contamination (http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=45744)
Friday, March 27, 2009
By Bill Poovey, Associated Press
Chattanooga, Tenn. - Thousands of military veterans across the South are waiting to find out if they were exposed to infectious diseases by government clinics that performed colonoscopies and other procedures with equipment that wasn't properly sterilized.
Veterans Affairs officials won't say if mistakes that may have exposed patients to infections at medical centers in Tennessee and Florida and a clinic in Georgia have been discovered elsewhere.
The VA recently warned veterans who had colonoscopies as far back as five years ago at its hospitals in Murfreesboro, Tenn., and Miami that they may have been exposed to the body fluids of other patients and should undergo tests to make sure they haven't contracted serious illnesses.
“What if you had to worry about giving your wife AIDS?” said Wayne Craig, a 52-year-old U.S. Navy veteran who lives in Elora and had a colonoscopy at the VA's Alvin C. York Medical Center in Murfreesboro, near Nashville, about five years ago. “Why haven't I been notified within five years?”
The VA declined to answer four Associated Press requests over the past week about the results of what the department described as a nationwide procedure and training review that was to end March 14. VA spokeswoman Laurie Tranter said the department planned to issue a response later Thursday.
The review of all VA medical centers and outpatient clinics followed reports in February that the department discovered “improperly reprocessed” endoscopic equipment used for colonoscopies in Murfreesboro and ear, nose and throat exams in Augusta, Ga.
Just this week, the VA acknowledged problems at a facility in Miami, too.
I advise anyone that has had any treatment in a VA facility that was invasive in nature, see a private physician.