Augusta and regional VA officials will be among those testifying before a congressional panel about mistakes that put patients at risk of possible exposure to HIV and other infections at three VA hospitals.
Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center Director Rebecca Wiley and Larry Biro -- the director of the VISN 7 Network, which oversees Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina -- will be among those headed to Washington. They will appear June 16 before the U.S. House Committee on Veterans' Affairs oversight and investigations, which is looking into what caused the problems and what the VA has done to fix them.
About 1,000 patients in the Augusta VA's ear, nose and throat clinic were potentially exposed to improperly sanitized endoscopic equipment between Jan. 2 and Nov. 6 last year. They were advised to come in for follow-up tests, and one has tested positive for HIV, two have hepatitis B and five have hepatitis C.
Overall, about 10,000 former VA patients in Miami, Murfreesboro, Tenn., and Augusta were advised to get checked. In all, five have tested positive for HIV and 43 have tested positive for hepatitis, according to an update on the VA Web site Friday.
The VA's inspector general is also investigating.
The subcommittee chairman, Rep. Harry Mitchell, D-Arizona, said Thursday in a phone interview that veterans who are testing positive for HIV and hepatitis, "whether it came from these improper procedures or not, the VA has a responsibility to take care of these patients."
A top VA doctor has said no one will ever know whether the positive tests were caused by exposure to improperly operated or cleaned endoscopic equipment. The VA has not denied the mistakes.
Rep. Phil Roe, R-Tenn., was among those in Congress who asked for an immediate investigation.
"As a physician and a veteran, this is disturbing to me on so many levels and immediate action must be taken to ensure that all medical equipment is clean and safe," Mr. Roe said in a statement.
The VA's initial December discovery of an equipment mistake at Murfreesboro led to a nationwide safety "step-up" at its 153 medical centers.
Since then, the problems have been discussed with staff at all VA hospitals and with representatives of the equipment manufacturer, Olympus American.
The VA has said problems discovered at more than a dozen other of its medical facilities, which officials declined to identify, did not require follow-up blood tests for patients.
In Murfreesboro, the equipment -- an incorrect valve -- could have allowed body fluid residue to transfer from patient to patient. VA officials have said they don't know whether that happened just one day or for more than five years since the equipment was installed in 2003.
In Miami, a tube that was supposed to be cleaned after each colonoscopy was instead cleaned at the end of each day, affecting patients between May 2004 and March 2009. And in Augusta, the ENT scopes used for looking into the nose and throat weren't properly cleaned.
The follow-up blood tests are continuing. As of May 18, VA records show about 8,000 of the 10,483 possibly affected patients have been notified of their follow-up blood test results.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Bart Gordon, whose Tennessee district includes the VA hospital at Murfreesboro, said in a statement that he hopes the House subcommittee can "get to the bottom of how this unfolded and make certain it doesn't happen again."
One veteran, who had a colonoscopy at Murfreesboro in 2007 and has since tested negative for infections, said VA officials have tried to assure him that he can trust the hospital's quality of care. He said he plans to return there for future treatment but wants an explanation.
Gary Simpson, 57, of Spring City, said that despite the follow-up blood tests, his marriage has suffered because he and his wife have worried since the VA first notified him about the mistake in February.
"They've apologized for it," Mr. Simpson said. "I'm not after money. They've helped me a lot in the past. But it still continues to be upsetting."
IMPROPER PROCEDURE: Human error has been blamed for improperly sterilized endoscopic equipment used at Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers in Augusta; Miami; and Murfreesboro, Tenn. Since the VA started notifying more than 10,000 people to get follow-up blood checks because they could have been exposed to infectious body fluids, five patients have tested positive for HIV and 33 for hepatitis.
IN AUGUSTA: The problems at Augusta's Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center occurred in the ear, nose and throat clinic between Jan. 2 and Nov. 6, 2008. The endoscopy equipment was sterilized with a solution not recommended by the manufacturer, officials said. About 1,000 patients were potentially exposed, and follow-up tests have revealed one is positive for HIV, two have hepatitis B and five have hepatitis C.
WHAT'S NEXT: As follow-up blood tests continue, investigations into what caused the problems are ongoing. On June 16, the U.S. House Committee on Veterans' Affairs oversight and investigations subcommittee will hold a hearing in Washington.
The Augusta Chronicle ©2010 Morris Communications, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
.....Oh Boy! Here they come! Those that say "Oh, I wouldn't use those VA Hospitals for anything!
They should stop to realized how closely the VA monitors everything that is performed in their hospitals...I dare say some of the same problems could and have happened at private hospital and gone unannounced...
VA is like any other Hospitals in the respect that things do happen....I belive the follow up with the VA hospitals are far better than most private hospitals....
I know many who "down" the VA Hospitals simply because they are jealous of all the free medical attention Vets receive...
This fellow must have stock in VA.
Don't know about any of this, but the statistics about Augusta Mall are scary. (saying this here, because the other thread is not taking comments) If a mall is built in Columbia County, Augusta Mall will become a pond site.
"The endoscopy equipment was sterilized with a solution not recommended by the manufacturer, officials said." Does this statement make any sense? If the equipment was sterilized, but not with a solution that was recommended by the manufacturer, isn't it still sterilized? I'm confused...or is that just my southern ignorance, as many of the posters on the AC website would say. Seems to me that it's the laziness and sorriness that "Affirmative Action" has brought to all areas of government work!!! Hire quality people based on their experience and work history rather than their dang color and you might not have to worry about issues like this! Woo Hoo Affirmative Action!!! Hey Riverman...Augusta Mall is the next pond site after the new Lake Regency!
Lost in translation, I agree!
LIT and stormy. Maybe you should go to this place and be treated with their unsterilized equipment. I would really love for you to have a colon exam with their equipment that they only clean at the end of the day. That is just plain nasty. I dare say the ratio of the color of the personnel working at the VA hospitals will clearly put the blame at the feet of the white race (since you want to play the race game). But wait, I understand, everything gets 'lost in translation' for you all. LOL
Nobody said the Norwood VA equipment was not properly sterilized. The report was that they used a sterilization solution that wasn't recommended by the manufacturer. That doesn't mean the solution they used didn't work effectively, but that it wasn't the one specifically recommended. You can't imagine the number of sterilizing solutions available to use on this kind of equipment, and it all works if used properly. Did you ever stop to think that the company that makes the equipment might also be selling the sterilization solution? Government buyers always go for low bids on this kind of stuff, so why is it such a surprise that the VA would have gone for something other than the "recommended" product?
It would be good to have some valid statistics on the occurence of HIV and hepatitis in the general VA patient population to get an idea if the cases 'associated' with the sterilization broo-ha-ha actually represent even the slightest anomaly. Somehow, one HIV infection per 1000 patients in this population doesn't seem all that alarming unless the expected P were far less than .001.