Noteboom The Law Firm

Zablocki VA Medical Center Getting Back Up To Speed After Sudden Closure

January 4, 2011 - The Zablocki Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center in Milwaukee was shut down over a month ago due to concerns over sterilization procedures for their medical equipment. It is now on track to be able to perform about 50% of the medical procedures they normally offer their patients. Ultimately, no veterans were at risk for infection or disease.

Once the sterilization scare was raised, the medical center was forced to sterilize all their medical procedure equipment. Understandably, it took a substantial amount of time to sanitize the thousands of pieces of equipment that needed to be cleaned. Safety is the utmost concern for the hospital, so the time it took to clean the equipment is secondary to patient safety.

The hospital can now begin performing various procedures again. What procedures they will perform will depend in what order the equipment was sterilized. The medical center uses over 400 types of equipment to treat approximately 55,000 veterans a year. 

The initial shutdown was triggered after a medical center employee called into question whether sterilization protocols were being followed. Despite inquiries, no more definitive explanations were offered by the hospital. The hospital did, however, change their procedures to make sure this problem will not arise again.