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VA finds more veterans at risk for infections

The Veterans Affairs Department’s problems with improperly cleaned medical equipment that may have left veterans exposed to viruses took another bad turn Tuesday when VA officials announced that they overlooked 79 veterans in Miami who had received colonoscopies with improperly sterilized equipment when initial warnings were sent out last spring.

The 79 veterans, who are now receiving telephone calls and certified letters, are among the about 2,400 patients from the Miami VA medical center who received colonoscopies between May 2004 and March 2009 with equipment later found to have not been properly cleaned. This created the potential for exposure to HIV and hepatitis.

“It is inexcusable,” said Dr. Robert L. Jesse, acting VA principal undersecretary for health.

Because the veterans did not receive notification letters last spring, they were not told of their possible exposure and were not told they were eligible for free medical testing, Jesse said.

Miami was not the only location where manufacturer’s procedures for cleaning reusable medical equipment were not followed. There were similar problems with equipment related to colonoscopies at VA facilities in Murfreesboro, Tenn., and Augusta, Ga., and there is a new problem with the cleaning to dental equipment at the VA’s medical center in St. Louis.