Over 1,000 veterans who may have been exposed to disease during colonoscopy exams at the Miami VA have not had tests performed.

NOTE from Larry Scott, VA Watchdog dot Org ... All information about the VA's contaminated equipment is here.  And, there is a second article posted about the VA's contaminated equipment problems disrupting some transplant procedures.

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VA inquiry into Miami hospital raises tough questions

Government agencies are investigating why over 1,000 veterans who may have been exposed to disease during colonoscopy exams at Miami's VA hospital have not had tests performed.

BY FRED TASKER

Seven weeks after the U.S. Veterans' Administration notified more than 3,000 veterans they might have been exposed to hepatitis B, hepatitis C or HIV by improperly cleaned colonoscopy equipment at the VA hospital in Miami, more than a quarter of them -- nearly 1,100 in all -- have not responded for testing, according to numbers provided by the VA.

ASTOUNDING NUMBER

The number is so far above those seen at other VA hospitals where similar problems were reported that one U.S. senator is calling for hearings on the matter.

''There are a bunch of unanswered questions here,'' said David Ward, spokesman for U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., who has asked Sen. Daniel Kahikina Akaka, D-Hawaii, chairman of the U.S. Senate's Veterans Affairs Committee, to hold hearings.

Ward said Burr is trying to figure out, among other things, why a VA report says 28 percent of the veterans in Miami who were notified that they might be infected have not responded for testing, compared to only 6 percent in Augusta, Ga., and 5 percent in Murfreesboro, Tenn., where similar problems with equipment were reported.

VA officials in Washington did not return calls seeking comment. So far, three Miami vets have tested positive for HIV, seven for hepatitis C and one for hepatitis B.

On March 28, the VA sent letters to more than 3,000 veterans who had had colonoscopies at the Miami VA hospital informing them that improperly cleaned equipment might have exposed them to hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV.

Dr. John Vara, the hospital's chief of staff, said at the time that a staffer apparently had only rinsed the equipment between uses instead of sterilizing it with disinfectant as called for in the manufacturer's specifications.

In a May 8 report, the VA said that, in Miami, 3,348 veterans were potentially affected -- up from the original number of 3,260. Of those, 3,179 had been notified, 2,295 had responded and 2,069 had been notified of test results.

The VA report says 89 have declined testing, but they are ``continuing to notify individuals whose letters have been returned as undeliverable and working with homeless coordinators to reach veterans with no known home address.''

11,224 AT RISK

The VA has said improperly cleaned or incorrectly assembled equipment also might have infected 8,387 veterans at the VA hospital in Murfreesboro, Tenn., and 1,069 veterans at the VA hospital in Augusta, Ga.

In the three VA facilities, 11,224 veterans were exposed and 7,510 have been notified of test results. The three hospitals have produced five veterans positive for HIV, 25 for hepatitis C and eight for hepatitis B. The VA says there is no way of knowing if the veterans contracted the viruses from the colonoscopy tools.

At least three investigations of the incident are underway. A VA team of experts has been at the Miami VA hospital since March 27 looking into what went wrong. U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, whose district includes the hospital, expects another report by next week from the VA Inspector General's office. And a U.S. Senate investigator also is probing the situation for the Veterans Affairs Committee.

Also, U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez of Florida has sent a letter to Veterans' Affairs secretary Eric Shineski expressing dissatisfaction at the VA's answers so far about the status of the Miami veterans.

Martinez's letter asks Shineski what steps the VA is taking to make sure similar problems do not reoccur.

In a May 1 letter to Martinez, the VA said that endoscopies, which had been halted at the Miami VA hospital, were resumed on April 7 'in accordance with the manufacturers' recommendations.''

The VA has promised to care for all infected veterans even if it can't pinpoint how they were infected.

In Miami, Mary Berrocal, director of the VA Healthcare System, told the Associated Press she has hired a training supervisor to make sure such problems don't happen again. She said that when she first heard about the problem, ``I was heartbroken, you know.''

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VA Colonoscopy Problems Affect Transplants

LifeNet Health Won't Accept Tissue Donations From Patients
 

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. -- The problems with colonoscopies at Veterans Affairs hospitals in Murfreesboro and Miami are now affecting the transplant world.

The largest organ procurement and tissue bank facility in the country said it will not use tissue donated by anyone who has had a colonoscopy or endoscopy in the past four months.

LifeNet Health said it decided to impose the restriction out of "an abundance of caution." The facility said it will not be permanent policy, but it is still in effect both for the United States and Puerto Rico.

More than 11,000 veterans were notified to be tested for hepatitis and HIV after colonoscopy devices were found to be improperly connected and cleaned.

In Tennessee, 19 vets have tested positive for either hepatitis or HIV.

The VA's top doctor has said veterans will never be able to prove they were infected by a specific procedure.

But some experts have said while fingerprinting the infection might be difficult, it is not impossible.

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TOPICS: veterans, veterans' benefits, VA, Department of Veterans' Affairs, contaminated equipment, colonoscopy, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, HIV