VA now gives out HIV?
Backside of the VA Medical Center in Miami, FL.
Seems to undermine the purpose of the VA Healthcare System. Yet what else is new. A while back the whole Walter Reed Hospital thing blew up, so we knew what kind of crap out vets have to deal with when it comes to VA healthcare. Yet the latest incident is completely below the belt.
It came out that contaminated equipment at a Miami, FL, VA facility could put individuals who had colonoscopies (for this procedure they basically have a long tube with a camera on the end of it, and shove it into your colon. Sounds fun, eh?”) at risk for hepatitis and HIV. Apparently the tube used for the procedure was only rinsed after use, not disinfected. I’m too shocked for words. Even worse, can you imagine the look on the poor guy’s face when he comes back for the results – “Mr. Smith, I have good news, and I have bad news. Good news, no pollups, no cancer. The bad news. Well, uh, you see, we didn’t follow protocol exactly, and, uh, you may have contracted hepatitis or HIV.” I’m sure that’ll go over well.
I just can’t believe that a healthcare facility, especially a federally funded one charged with providing healthcare services to the men and women who have put their lives on the line for this country, could overlook such a simple fact, something that is basic protocol around the country. Anything like that, especially something INSIDE a person, has to be either sterilized or disgarded as bio waste. What next, they were also reusing needles?! Are you kidding me?!
The worse part is that there are other sites (Murfreesboro, TN, and Augusta, GA) suspected of putting patients at risk by using contaminated equipment. I have a bad feeling that may not be the end of it. How many other facilities have endangered their patients, our veterans, by blatant disregard for basic protocol and basic safety of their patients. Can we say malpractice?
I love the ending of the article on CNN though. I’m just going to quote:
The special care clinics opened Tuesday morning, and officials say response from patients has been good. “They are being proactive, and we are glad. We want them to get tested,” said Susan Warren, a spokeswoman for the Miami VA facility
Seriously. “They are being proactive.” No, they are scared out of their minds they have just contracted an incurable virus that they could spread to their loved ones. They want to know if they need to be scared or not. What the hell is she thinking when she says that!
Part of the problem though is how long it can take HIV to show up in the body. It could be years before any one of those vets could test positive. Then what is the VA going to say. “Oh, that is the price you pay for unprotected sex.” No, that is the price you pay for unprotected colonoscopies.
