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February 17, 2011 - The Miami Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Hospital may have been putting veterans at risk for HIV since 2004. The risk of infection came from using colonoscopy equipment that was not properly cleaned and sterilized. The VA has located 12 new veterans not previously notified of their risk of exposure. This is the VA's third round of notifications to veterans potentially exposed bringing the total number of veterans notified to 2,500.
Following the notifications the VA issued last year to potentially exposed veterans, the VA said they took numerous and wide-spread precautions to prevent having to make a third notification. Now that the VA is making that third notification, they lay the blame with the poor record keeping on the part of the VA hospital.
These latest 12 veterans' names were discovered when the Miami U.S. Attorney's Office asked the Miami VA to double check its records for veterans that could have been exposed to the potentially contaminated equipment. These 12 veterans' names were found while checking the VA hospital's paper log books, as opposed to just checking their electronic records as they had previously. Why these 12 veterans were not listed in the hospital's electronic record keeping system was not determined, but no disciplinary actions is anticipated against the VA hospital.
The original notifications were made following the discovery some colonoscopies were performed with improperly sterilized equipment. The problem dated back to 2004 and put thousands of veterans at risk for being exposed to HIV. Finally, a complete and hopefully inclusive plan is being implemented to ensure no other veterans are falling through the cracks of the VA's warning system.
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