Remember the story the other day about thousands of Department of Veterans Affairs patients being exposed to HIV due to contaminated equipment used in colonoscopies? Well, there are new developments, good news and bad news if you will.
The good news is that some of the patients don’t have HIV. The bad news is that some veterans have tested positive for hepatitis B and C.
Ten patients have been found to have either hepatitis B or C contracted from faulty endoscopic equipment used for colonoscopies and ear, nose and throat exams, according to the Associated Press. Hopefully this doesn’t mean that the equipment was used for ear, nose and throat tests after they were used for colonoscopies. Ewwwww.
The VA reportedly warned patients recently at hospitals in Murpheesboro, Tenn., Miami and Augusta, Ga., “who had colonoscopies as far back as five years ago at those hospitals 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.” Hey, thanks for telling us in a timely manner!
Seriously, many problems which are often discovered at VA facilities can usually be found at any type of hospital. However, the VA system is so massive that they can’t afford to let such screw-ups take place and then wait for years to sound the alarm.
These discoveries are the first major crises to face the VA’s new secretary, retired U.S. Army chief of staff Gen. Eric Shenseki. I certainly hope that his reaction will not to name a “blue-chip panel” to study the problems to death for when you have so many people possibly exposed and the contamination goes as far back as five years time is not your most abundant commodity.