VA hospital may have infected 1,800 veterans with HIV

Yet another advertisement for the competency of government-run… anything

Yet another advertisement for upcoming incompetency in government healthcare: ObamaCare

Yet another advertisement for having gays military!

By the CNN Wire Staff
June 30, 2010 6:10 a.m. EDT

Patients receiving dental work at a Missouri VA hospital may have been exposed to potentially life-threatening diseases.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Missouri VA hospital sends letters to more than 1,800 patients at risk
• Patients may be at risk to contract hepatitis and HIV
• Congressman from Missouri angry and calling for investigation
• Hospital says problem stems from handwashing dental instruments

RELATED TOPICS

• Missouri
• Veterans' Affairs
• HIV and AIDS

(CNN) -- A Missouri VA hospital is under fire because it may have exposed more than 1,800 veterans to life-threatening diseases such as 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."

The issue stems from a failure to clean dental instruments properly, the hospital told CNN affiliate KSDK.

KSDK: VA dental patients at risk of infection

Dr. Gina Michael, the association chief of staff at the hospital, told the affiliate that some dental technicians broke protocol by handwashing tools before putting them in cleaning machines.
The instruments were supposed to only be put in the cleaning machines, Michael said.

The handwashing started in February 2009 and went on until March of this year, the hospital told KSDK.

The hospital has set up a special clinic and education centers to help patients who may have been infected. However, Carnahan said he feels more should be done and those responsible should be disciplined.

"I can only imagine the horror and anger our veterans must be feeling after receiving this letter," Carnahan said. "They have every right to be angry. So am I."

This is not the first time this year a hospital has been in hot water for not following proper procedures.

In June, Palomar Hospital in San Diego, California, has sent certified letters to 3,400 patients who underwent colonoscopy and other similar procedures, informing the patients that there may be a potential of infection from items used and reused in the procedures.

Another Fine Example Of Government Healthcare

No sooner than I had written a story about government "care" than a reader sent me the following story, written by Kimberly Hefling and Ben Evans, of Associated Press.

"Fewer than half of Veterans Affairs centers given a surprise inspection last month had proper training and guidelines in place for common endoscopic procedures, such as colonoscopies... even after the agency learned that mistakes may have exposed thousands of veterans to HIV and other diseases.

The findings, from the VA's Inspector General and obtained by Associated Press, suggest that errors in colonoscopies and other minimally invasive procedures, performed at VA facilities, "may be more widespread than initially thought."

What?

If this was a private hospital, the outcry would be deafening. The lawsuits would already be stacked ten feet high. Insurance premiums for those doctors would rise like a hot air balloon.

You would already be hearing the stentorian tones of network television announcers asking why and how such a tragedy could happen.

But there is no outcry, because the defendant is the government, and as everyone knows, even when the government makes a mistake, and in this case a HUGE mistake, "NOTHING" is the most likely outcome.

"The VA's response was that there was no way to tell whether the infections suffered by veterans came from VA procedures. Their experts said that most, or all, of the infections probably already existed. Six veterans had HIV, thirty four had hepatitis C and thirteen had hepatitis B.

All from one hospital?

For all those out there that think the government can run healthcare, think again. The present system, no matter its flaws, has checks and balances. The government has no checks and balances, and zero accountability. There is no report of anyone losing their job in this entire scandal. Not only that, but there is no plan in place to make sure this doesn't happen again, and if bureaucrats draft one, there will be enough holes for them to weasel out of any situation that gets sticky.

The best thing you can do for yourself and your family is to practice preventative medicine, and to make sure that you don't have to go into the system, because you are in excellent health.

One of the ways you can do that is by taking Omega Oil Supplements, pharmaceutical grade fish oil and pharmaceutical grade CoQ10 and multiple vitamin and nutrient supplement.

With my best wishes for your optimum health,

Dr. Bill

Dr. Bill is the nom de guerre of William Thomas Stillwell, M.D., FACS, FICS, FAAOS, FAANAOS, FAAPGS. He is a licensed, board certified orthopaedic surgeon, with nearly a quarter century of clinical experience, and has served as Chairman of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center, Smithtown, New York until he retired in 2003, Associate Professor of Clinical Orthopaedic Surgery at the State University of New York at Stony Brook (1987-2003), Assisitant Professor before that, and Instructor of Clinical Orthopaedic Surgery at the College of Physicians & Surgeons of Columbia University (1982-1999).

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