St. Louis Va Dental Disease Exposure

[gdsnide]

OK I received a letter from the St.Louis VA saying " I may have been exposed to Hepatitis B,Hep C & HIV

Letter said to come in & get a blood test if one wants & "Don't worry" as its no big deal problem as someone wasn't cleaning Dental Tools correcttly & you may have been exposed to these diseases

I was at the VA Hospital today & my Daughter called me & told me about the certified letter I had received & what it said

I had a blood test & they said they would have the results in about 2 weeks

Everyone very reassuring that its very unlikely anyone has anything so stay calm

Find article about this below Not sure what is going on but sounds rather serious to me....Was told I could file a claim or a tort claim on this but guess that depends on the blood tests

Also, we're to be retested in 6 months

Does anyone know if it's possible this stuff won't show up in a blood test & one still has it?.....GARY

Veterans receiving dental care may have been exposed to ...

Jun 29, 2010 ... (KMOV)-- More than 1800 veterans in the St. Louis area may have been exposed to potentially life threatening diseases at the John Cochran VA Hospital. ... The veterans administration is contacting veterans from Missouri ...

www.kmov.com/.../Veterans-receiving-dental-care-may-have-been-exposed-to-potentially-deadly-diseases-97431474.html - 2 hours ago

[Berta]

Gary-if a vet could prove that this incident caused them some chronic anxiety or stress (which would take a strong medical statement and some treatment records based specifically on this fearful incident)-that could possibly be the basis of a claim.But VA is already mitigating the damages and offering the screenings.

It is the infected veterans -if any- who really have the basis for legal action.

The VA screens their VAMC employees for HIV so I would hope these VA HIV tests are accurate.

I wonder if the dental assistants who caused the problem have been screened yet.

I read of a case years ago where the vet claimed (and was awarded damages) for PTSD due to VA malpractice (proven) which had caused him to fear all medical professionals.I think the award came from a federal court and not the OGC.

[gdsnide]

Gary-if a vet could prove that this incident caused them some chronic anxiety or stress (which would take a strong medical statement and some treatment records based specifically on this fearful incident)-that could possibly be the basis of a claim.But VA is already mitigating the damages and offering the screenings.

It is the infected veterans -if any- who really have the basis for legal action.

The VA screens their VAMC employees for HIV so I would hope these VA HIV tests are accurate.

I wonder if the dental assistants who caused the problem have been screened yet.

I read of a case years ago where the vet claimed (and was awarded damages) for PTSD due to VA malpractice (proven) which had caused him to fear all medical professionals.I think the award came from a federal court and not the OGC.

Berta,

My Daughter did find the FTCA statement on one of the papers I got & was talking with Son ( Lawyer) in Phoenix & he says " One has to show damages to do any good"

Also, find below statement from VA Employee saying " She had informed VA before this happened with the VA Dental that they were doing it wrong & was ignored"

It seems to be getting more interesting every day

News for Former VA hospital employee warned ...

CBS News Former VA hospital employee warned management of bad sanitation ...‎ - 16 hours ago

(KMOV) – A former employee at the Cochran Veterans Affairs Medical Center in St. Louis claims she warned there were problems sterilizing medical equipment. ...KMOV.com - 354 related articles » Sincerly...........GARY

[Tbird]

Well brothers and sisters I am one of those veterans who received dental treatment and got the certified letter. The first day I couldn't talk to anyone, I just sat numbly staring into space.

How about I tell you how the calls with dental went.

I called the number on the letter today, the first time I called I asked if they were actually making appointments for blood draws or are we just going to pick up a form and then go take a number at the lab. No, he assured me that they had set up a special area just for that purpose, so he asked me if I'd like to make an appointment. I say corpsman let me ask you something, has the VA given you any response to a veteran who might say something like "Don't you find it ironic at the least, perhaps sadistic at the most, that you send me a letter saying you might have infected me and you would like me to come back to see you so you can stick a needle in my arm?" corpsman says no, ma'm they did not. He asks me if I'd like to make an appointment, I say I'll have to call you back. I was just to angry to make the appointment with him, not his fault, didn't need to take it out on him.

So a little while later, I call again a woman answers the phone, she stumbles through Dental Call Review Center, I stop her and say hon, don't even try and get it out I know this is all new for you. I need an appointment, so she makes me one. She says would you like to know anything else and I say well I know what I read in the papers and I know what the letter says. But, sure, what the hell, give me the VA spin. So she does, not much substance there. I put the same question to here, has the VA given you any response to a veteran who might say something like "Don't you find it ironic at the least, perhaps sadistic at the most, that you send me a letter saying you might have infected me and you would like me to come back to see you so you can stick a needle in my arm?" She hesitates, I say it's ok I know they haven't and I know it's not your fault you're just manning the phones. She thanks me, I ask how many angry veterans she's getting, she says about 50/50.

So I go next Wednesday to have them stick a needle in my arm, to see if they gave me Hepatitis or HIV, from sticking dental instruments in my mouth. Shades of Catch 22

Feeling a bit of righteous outrage, good, let it burn, it fuels my work here at HadIt.com

[stillhere]

T-Bird I suffer from PTSD and use the VA health care for most of my medical and I am scared shitless. I had dental (tooth pulled in March) and I am freaking out over the last few days. While I am not in the area were this went wrong "this time" I am just seeing vets getting pretty damn fed up with the VA health care system!

Now that they have many vets coming to them and exspanding and doing more things than they should not be doing they are going to have the opportunity to kill more of us and reduce the pay outs more!!

This is total BS! I can only imagine what is next on their agenda???

[Tbird]

stillhere - Hang in brother we are going to get through this. There is no need for any of us to panic, we must marshal our resources and provide support to each other. There is a very good chance that indeed no infections will be found, but I know that offers cold comfort to us who have to sit and wonder. It blows our trust (which is barely there) away (I am speaking for PTSD veterans here), our barely tolerable ability to go somewhere without fear that something awful is surely going to happen. It pulls all kinds of triggers for us, feel free to post in this thread even if it's just to say I'm freaking out. We'll understand.

Don't panic, I am not panicked, I'm a lot of things, but not panicky. So let's hang together here in this thread on this news, we can sure help support each other.

[Commander Bob]

T-Bird I suffer from PTSD and use the VA health care for most of my medical and I am scared shitless...

...Now that they have many vets coming to them and expanding and doing more things than they should not be doing they are going to have the opportunity to kill more of us and reduce the pay outs more!!

Hang in there 'stillhere'.. Attrition, due to the WWII vet deaths will reduce the VA payouts more than any problems at the VAMC's. Once 16 million strong, I have read that there are less than 3 million WWII vets left. Dying at a rate of 1000, to 1800 a day, depending on where you get the numbers.

I appreciate your fear and share your concerns. I will go to my HMO PCP and ask for a blood test, just to be sure. For peace of mind, I suggest you do the same.