VA hospital may have infected 1,800 veterans with HIV

pufnstuf · #1 06-30-2010, 03:18 AM

A Missouri VA hospital is under fire because it may have exposed more than 1,800 veterans to dangerous viruses like hepatitis and HIV.

John Cochran VA Medical Center in St. Louis has recently mailed letters to 1,812 veterans telling them they could contract hepatitis B, hepatitis C and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) after visiting the medical center for dental work, said Rep. Russ Carnahan.

Carnahan said Tuesday he is calling for a investigation into the issue and has sent a letter to President Obama about it.

"This is absolutely unacceptable," said Carnahan, a Democrat from Missouri. "No veteran who has served and risked their life for this great nation should have to worry about their personal safety when receiving much needed healthcare services from a Veterans Administration hospital."

MORE:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/06/30/va....hiv/index.html

pufnstuf · #2 06-30-2010, 03:19 AM

Pathetic!

Dr. Gina Michael is the association chief of staff at the hospital, and says the failure happened because some dental technicians thought they were doing the right thing by washing the dental tools themselves.

Dr. Michael says the techs were using a sink and strong soap to clean the tools, when they should have sent them to the hospital sanitizing and sterilizing department.

The techs, says Dr. Michael, were trying to protect the delicate instruments by doing the cleaning by hand, but instead, they were breaking protocol.

The hand cleaning started in February 2009 and continued until March 2010, when it was discovered by an inspection team from headquarters. The inspection was routine, but the discovery of the hand washing was not.

MORE: http://www.ksdk.com/news/local/story...205262&catid=3

LaLaw2000 · #3 06-30-2010, 09:09 AM

There is no excuse. Our Missouri veterans deserve better than this. All of our veterans everywhere deserve the best!

Linda7NJ · #4 06-30-2010, 09:36 AM

There is no excuse for this. NONE!

They weren't taught basics like sanitizing and sterilizing and the reasoning behind it? THUD! They should all be fired!

jjenny · #5 06-30-2010, 05:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Linda7NJ

There is no excuse for this. NONE!

They weren't taught basics like sanitizing and sterilizing and the reasoning behind it? THUD! They should all be fired!

The article says the equipment was still sterilized. But it was supposed to be washed by the machine before sterilization, not by hand. Apparently some viruses can survive handwashing but not the machine washing. But at least they washed and sterilized it, not just used dirty ones without doing anything. So hopefully the risk of getting these diseases isn't going to be high.

Trident · #6 06-30-2010, 06:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jjenny

The article says the equipment was still sterilized. But it was supposed to be washed by the machine before sterilization, not by hand. Apparently some viruses can survive handwashing but not the machine washing. But at least they washed and sterilized it, not just used dirty ones without doing anything. So hopefully the risk of getting these diseases isn't going to be high.

What they were doing doesn't even make sense. I hope there's a THOROUGH investigation of this and everyone involved gets the axe.

jjenny · #7 06-30-2010, 06:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trident

What they were doing doesn't even make sense. I hope there's a THOROUGH investigation of this and everyone involved gets the axe.

What exactly doesn't make sense? They were washing it by hand instead of sending it out to be washed by a machine, presumably believing hand washing is more gentle on the delicate instruments. What they did not realize is that washing by machine was supposed to kill additional microbes/viruses.