Equipment should have been sterilized

What's been going on regarding safety procedures at Veterans Affairs Department medical facilities in Tennessee, Georgia and Florida?

A failure to properly maintain hospital equipment has led veterans to be exposed to HIV and other potentially fatal diseases. The VA, in fact, has warned more than 10,000 veterans to get blood tests.

VA sites in the three states cleaned but failed to properly sterilize equipment between patient treatments. In Tennessee, at Murfreesboro's Alvin C. York VA hospital, the VA blamed most of the problems on unclear or incomplete instructions from the colonoscopy scope's manufacturer, Olympus American Inc. That company said in a statement that it is helping the VA address problems with "inadvertently neglecting to appropriately reprocess a specific auxiliary water tube."

Americans should be outraged that our veterans were put at such risk. Excuses will not restore the health that may have been compromised.

This month, the VA announced it was investigating whether there was a link between a patient's positive HIV test and unsterilized equipment while getting the colonoscopy. It previously had reported that hepatitis was found in 16 patients but was not able to draw any conclusions as to whether or not the illnesses were caused by treatment they received at the facilities.

An attorney representing some of the patients from Murfreesboro said one client, who had esophageal cancer, died from a "massive infection" not long after receiving a colonoscopy at the VA hospital.

The VA has established a 24-hour toll-free hot line for patients and their families at 877-575-7256. They are urged to call with any questions.

Meanwhile, as patients are tested and await their results, the federal government needs to conduct a thorough review and hold responsible anyone who was negligent in the chain of events that led to the equipment not being properly sterilized. It also should recheck all of its other facilities to ensure that nothing similar is happening elsewhere. And, it should put better safeguards in place for the future.

Patients obviously go to the hospital for preventative care or to improve their health, not to be infected with diseases that might kill them. The fact that the negligence happened with our veterans — who honorably served their country and were promised excellent medical care — makes it that much worse.