Rep: Locate vets exposed to unclean equipment
MIAMI (AP) – The Department of Veterans Affairs must do a better job of finding and testing veterans who may have been exposed to contaminated medical equipment at the Miami VA hospital, U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said Thursday.
The Miami Republican spoke to The Associated Press after a briefing by VA officials in Washington that she requested for members of Congress and their staff.
More than 10,400 former patients have been getting follow-up blood tests because of VA mistakes with equipment used in colonoscopies at Murfreesboro, Tenn., and Miami and at the agency’s Augusta, Ga., ear, nose and throat clinic.
The VA has said that five former patients at the three hospitals had tested positive for HIV, three of them are in Miami. A total of 34 have tested positive for hepatitis. It’s not clear if the infections came from VA treatment.
The estimated number of people potentially at risk in Miami was reduced from 3,348 to 2,609 because some patients scheduled for a colonoscopy may not have shown up for appointments or were not given an examination, Ros-Lehtinen said.
Out of that risk pool, all but 332 have been notified, VA officials said at the briefing.
But Ros-Lehtinen said the number yet to be notified remains “too high.”
She said the VA has sent each person two letters and called multiple times, but they may have moved or changed telephone numbers. And she said the VA needs to try harder.
“We just can’t say, ‘Oh well we tried our best…,'” Ros-Lehtinen said.
She added, “It’s shameful and it sounds like a bad movie plot.”
VA spokeswoman Katie Roberts did not immediately comment on Ros-Lehtinen’s statements, but said there was no new information given during the briefing.