Another Vet Sues Va

[Berta]

"Rivera’s suit is one of 45 filed against the VA so far in Miami, with 113 more in line to sue after filing the notice required when a government agency is involved.

There could be many more suits to come. Rivera was among 11,000 veterans who had colonoscopies performed in Miami, Tennessee and Georgia between 2004 and 2009 with equipment that the VA has acknowledged may have been improperly cleaned. The VA says 2,539 Miami vets are “potentially at risk for infection” from the colonoscopies but insists that “there is currently no evidence to suggest these infections were acquired from the endoscopic equipment.”

So far, five Miami-area vets who had colonoscopies at the VA during the five years have tested positive for HIV, eight for hepatitis C and one for hepatitis B."

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/02/26/2087611/miami-vets-sue-the-va-over-flawed.html#ixzz1FC4D0b6P

[broncovet]

Berta

Thank you for posting this. In a similar way, I was a patient at Dayton VAMC ( Dental) and I am among the 535 (that is a minimum number, as I will point out) Veterans who may have gotten infected from an elderly dentist that kept working on patients in spite of him being 82 years old and having dementia.

http://www.veteranstoday.com/2011/02/26/dayton-vamc-dentist-under-investigation-named/

The VA is contacting ONLY patients seen by this doctor, however, it would seem to me if this doc has poor infection control practices, he could contaminate equipment used by other dentists for other patients also. For that reason, I do not think the infection possibility is limited to 535 patients, but could be numbered in the thousands.

Of course, I dont have a way of "proving" this, and it is only a theory...but if he (potentially) contaminated PATIENTS, then it follows he also probably contaminated EQUIPMENT that other dentists may have used on other patients. In other words, he could have easily put dirty equipment where clean equipment is stored, to be used by the next dentist.

I have not been tested yet...I am kind of afraid to find out. JMHO.

[Pete53]

I have been seeing a Fee Service Dentist and close to finishing 7,000 that the VA is paying her. She washes her hands every time she comes into the room. So does her assistant.

When I went to VA Dentist I never saw them wash hands but at least they wore gloves.

I would say that I see more men wash their hands after going to bathroom in a public toilet than I see at the VA. Some are good and many are not so good.

I refuse to shake hands with a lot of the people including my shrink who I have never seen make any attempt at hygiene

[john999]

This is pretty awful, but I got a bad staff infection from a private doctor. The best place to get a life threatening infection is a hospital. If not for a month of IV anti-biotics I would have lost my foot. I have lost trust in all doctors.

[Pete53]

John:

You are right but if as short cut or a cheap way to treat a Vet look for the VA to lead the way. Its a lot better than it used to be.

[john999]

Pete

Oh, yeah, I agree with that. The VA are the major cheapskates. I even fear getting shots or having them draw blood. I really think profit motive drives private medical services and cheapness drives the VA. Patient welfare is done on the list around the bottom. Marcus Welby, Dr. Ben Casey and Dr. Kildare have been dead a long time.