Part VI of a series
by Nicholas J. Vocca
U.S.
District Judge Adalberto Jordan ruled in favor of Air force veteran
Robert Metzler and his wife by awarding them $1.25-million on Wednesday,
November 12, 2012, as compensation in their medical malpractice suit
against the U.S. government after Mister Metzler had become infected
with Hepatitis C when personnel at the Miami, Florida VA Hospital failed
to properly clean colonoscopy equipment prior to performing that
procedure on him.
According
to the Veterans Affairs own Administrative Review Board, Metzler was
one of more than 11,000 veterans who had received colonoscopies with
improperly cleaned equipment between 2004 and 2009 at VA Hospitals in
Miami, Florida, Mufreesboro, Tennessee, and Augusta, Georgia.
Metzler,
who received his
colonoscopy in 2007, had tested negative for Hepatitis C the year
before. Then, in 2009, he tested positive for the virus two days after
receiving a letter from the VA warning him of being a "potential risk"
related to the equipment used in his procedure.
The
U.S. Attorney's office defending the VA acknowledged the Miami VA
Hospital had "breached" a "duty of reasonable care," but denied the
equipment caused any health problems. If this were so, and there were
no risks of any health problems related to the colonoscopy equipment
used, why then did the VA send out warning letters?
In
his testimony, Doctor David Nelson, a board-certified doctor in
internal medicine, said that there was a "less than 0% chance" that
Metzler contacted Hepatitis C through his colonoscopy, according to
court records.
Despite
acknowledging that the records from the
Veterans Affairs "strongly suggest" that Metzler couldn't have been
infected by the colonoscopy, Judge Jordan said that the veteran had no
other risks associated with contracting the virus.
"I
realize that the chances of acquiring Hepatitis C under these
circumstances are slight. But I find that there is nothing to preclude
Mister Metzler from being one of those two persons in a trillion or
billion who do get the virus," Jordan wrote.
On the website lawyersandsettlements.com,
it was reported on April 2, 2009, that the Miami VA was "warned by the
Department of Veterans Affairs about potential problems with the
colonoscopy equipment," and asserted that "the hospital checked its
equipment and reported everything fine...that is, until a more extensive
review later found problems."
The
potential problem was first brought to the fore on December 22, 2008,
when the VA issued a patient safety alert to every VA medical center
and clinic, warning them of possible contamination problems with
colonoscopy equipment based on reported incidents at the VA Hospital in
Murfreesboro, Tennessee, where it was discovered that subject equipment
was being cleaned at the end of the day, instead of after each
procedure.
In January, 2009, the Miami VA Hospital once again reported that everything was fine.
Over
a three-day period starting February 10, 2009, a total of 7,500
veterans in Augusta, Georgia and the Alvin C. York VA Hospital in
Murfeesboro, Tennessee were sent warning letters. According to records,
those from the Murfreesboro VA received letters informing them that
"improperly assembled equipment" might have exposed them to
cross-contamination between April 23, 2003, and December 1, 2008.
In
February, 2009, the Augusta VA warned 1,100 patients that they may been
exposed to the Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, and even HIV, during
endoscopic procedures at its ear, nose, and throat clinic between
January and November of 2008.
Between March 8 and 14
of this year, the U.S. department of Veterans Affairs issued updated
alerts to all hospitals and clinics directing them to check again for
improper procedures and establish new training protocols.
During
the course of a second inspection at the Miami VA, more problems were
found...2-months after that hospital had issued an "all clear"
statement.
On March 23, Miami sent letters to 3,260 more veterans with regard to possible infectious diseases from colonoscopy procedures.
While
it has been reported that the 16 veterans who tested positive for the
hepatitis virus between the Murfreesboro and Augusta VA Hospitals have
yet to be proven as being directly linked to the colonoscopy and
endoscopy debacle, the fact remains that 16 out of 11,000 have been
infected, and this ratio of infected individuals is much worse than the
previously reported odds.
No
veteran has tested for HIV, so far. However, Hepatitis B represents a serious infection, and Hepatitis C can be fatal.
At the Murfreesboro VA, four veterans have tested positive for Hepatitis B, and 6 for the deadly Hepatitis C.
Though
VA
spokeswoman Katie Roberts stated that "We take full accountability" in
putting these veterans at risk, she did not say whether the VA would be
willing to pay for treatment. Neither did she reveal if the VA would be
prepared to pay compensation damages.
In
its editorial on this issue, the Miami Herald called the oversight
"stunning and completely unacceptable. Putting lives at risk through
carelessness is inexcusable."
Meanwhile,
veterans and their families are incensed at how the mere act of
attempting to be proactive about one's health has potentially put them
at risk, and further fumed about how it took the both the Department of
Veterans Affairs and individual VA Hospitals several years to detect
this life-threatening problem.
"Veterans
who attend VA clinics and hospitals as a way of being proactive about
their health should not
be exposed to potentially life-threatening diseases because of the
carelessness and negligence of VA personnel to adhere to sound medical
and sterilizations procedures," wrote one angry veteran.
Another
veteran says that these "disturbing incidents" certainly give "new
meaning to how the VA has long shoved it up the rear of our nation's men
and women who served it."
We agree.
Is
there verbal, physical, and emotional abuse in our nation's VA
Hospitals, and have VA employees dealt drugs to veterans? We shall see
in our next part of the series.
No comments:
Post a Comment