(22,000) Vets Warned of Possible Exposure to Virus (AIDS)

MILWAUKEE -- More than 22,000 veterans who underwent prostate biopsies at veterans' hospitals across the country are being warned that improperly sterilized equipment may have exposed them to deadly viruses.

Officials said Friday it was unlikely someone could get infected by the equipment, and no patient is known to have been sickened.
...
The prostate biopsy equipment includes a probe that, if improperly cleaned, could retain traces of body fluids containing the viruses that cause hepatitis or AIDS.
...
So far, about 7,000 vets contacted the VA after receiving the letter and about 2,000 have been tested, Benson said.

"It's too soon to have any information on their test results because each of the potential diseases we might be worried about require not only initial tests but confirmatory tests as well," Benson said. "Right now our first priority is getting information out to every veteran."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/02/AR2006060200328.html

These men and women have served the USA in the military, that is the "price" they have paid for this "free health care"! It is the one "promise" all honorably discharged veterans supposedly have - that of health care during and after they have served for life.

Free? Free my ass! These men and women that have served have put their lives on the line for America. The very least they deserve is decent health care.

The VA is a joke for medical care unless you don't mind waiting for months for a necessary surgery, etc.

And now we have possible AIDS exposure due to the filthy and crummy equipment they use on the patients! This is an OUTRAGE!!! :argh:

:kick:

:grr:

The government refuses to properly fund it. I don't know why. It's definitely damn good reason NOT to join the military.

I used to work for the VA hospital so YES I do know! I could tell lots of stories about how our veteran's have not, did not, and could not get the care they needed.

It was a very sad place to work for those that were there had no choice but to go there for health care. Most of the veterans I know have private insurance and view the VA hospital as being the last place to go unfortunately.

It should be the BEST place to go, not an option for those that have NOWHERE else to go for care!

It is a disgrace indeed. I worked for them for a few years and wow, I couldn't believe the goings on!

SAD, DISGUSTING and UNFORGIVABLE IMO!!

:kick:

How in the world can this happen????
k&r

that goes RIGHT over the wires and no one harps about for more than one evening on the news...

what INCREDIBLE bull shit! so wrong and so typical of the underfunded VA hosp my family has had to use.

yet, so many "TOUGH" military types keep backing that son of a bitch.... shame on them.


www.cafepress.com/warisprofitable <--- ya gotta check this out! great stickers/shirts pro-dem anti-bush

first 26.5 million of their records show vets are taking it in the ass by this mis-administration, and this story shows they're actually doing it in real life...


I despise bushco.

www.cafepress.com/warisprofitable

Why now?

When are we going to realize this is a systematic breakdown of structures. The structures which protected us all. Negligence, incompetence or intentional chipping away at our means of citizen strength.

....the VA is costing this administration a lot of money thanks to Clinton's effort to sign up 42%
more veterans before he left office. What better way to deter them from using the facilities than to make the care seem dubious at best. Bush (Rove) is brilliant.

Just like raising the co-pay on prescription drugs, but making it effective after the election. They never cease to amaze me.

The original list of facilities that may have exposed patients to hepatitis or HIV includes:

• Washington, D.C.

• Iowa City, Iowa

• Togus, Maine

• Minneapolis

• Fort Harrison, Mont.

• Miles City, Mont.

• Las Vegas

• Buffalo, N.Y.

• Canandaigua/Rochester, N.Y.

• Cincinnati

• Oklahoma City, Okla.

• Portland, Ore.

• San Juan, Puerto Rico

• Memphis, Tenn.

• Murfreesboro, Tenn.

• Nashville, Tenn.

• Milwaukee, Wisc.

http://www.armytimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-1844272.php

its billions, the vets themselves were put on the bottom of the list of priorities. And this is the result.

No excuse for this type of irresponsible behavior in a medical procedure. This is why there are malpractice lawsuits to help penalize and correct these flagrantly negligent behaviors.

I was reading a study (was a couple of years ago) on this subject and it said that they randomly screened a bunch of hospitals and found out that approx. 60% of the equipment the use for colonoscopies was NOT sterile and had the remains from prior procedures was still encrusted on it (like FECAL matter stuck on them and dried). They weren't sterilized properly!

This scares the hell out of me. Needless to say, I don't ever plan on having a colonoscopy!!

:dem: :kick:

nuclear blast in the 50s, so they could see how many would get it?

One vote at a time. Too bad it took the demolition of our consitution....

I wouldn't be surprised the least if there was a cover-up going on to quiet this down at the Dept of Veteran Affairs. I've worked at 2 VA facilities, and I think for the most part the VA provides better care than most community hospitals. No other population in the US can get easier access to mental health services than a Veteran connected into the VA. No other population minus the super rich, can get on the fast track for surgery, diagnostic testing, or fitted in for a clinic appointment than at the VA.

I know that at times, the waits can be long and I think that its because many VA Hospitals in larger cities are affiliated academic centers where extra time is used for teaching doctors in training while patients are waiting to see the staff physicians at clinic. Now compared with a Mayo Clinic, Columbia Presbyterian, Mass General or Roswell Park, sure the VA services may pale in comparison. But I'd rather be covered at the VA than at my local county hospital, where its a gun and knife club and the hospital staff runs the floor like headless chickens. The VA Electronic Medical Records system is also second to none, it allows on the fly access to clinical notes, labs, and radiograph images up to 15 years past. No other hospital outside the VA I know of has that, and believe me it provides an incredible leg up in providing excellent health care.

Drug access could always be better at the VA, more homecare services would help immensely as well, but the VA healthcare system is probably better healthcare coverage than most working Americans have right now, or will ever have in their lifetime.

a couple more notches to drown out this story and the missing data story.

I've never seen such neglect and outright banditry in this country! I said our infrastructure is going to fall apart, because of govt waste and oversight by special interest groups. Well...here we go with another travesty. They're still finding bodies in NOLA and just now fixed the levees (just in time for hurricane season). God help us all.

WTF? That's criminal negligence!

There is a lot of shock value in this story by adding the dreaded AIDS name. The HIV virus can barely survive a half-minute after contact with air.

Other than that, sucks to be in the military. Not only do they get fucked up the ass by the government on a daily basis, but now they have to take it up to the prostate. Bummer.

to find a way to really stick you in the %^# These guys just can't keep anything running smoothly.

Volunteering to serve in the defense of our nation does not give the government license to fuck people over!

when it happened in Maine. It's pretty fucked up, you'd think it would be an isolated incident, but apparently this is going on across the country.