Hearing to air VA mistakes with hospital equipment

Hearing to air VA mistakes with hospital equipment

www.huffingtonpost.com

A congressional panel is pressing the Department of Veterans Affairs to disclose on Tuesday whether non-sterile equipment that may have exposed 10,000 veterans to HIV and other infections was isolated to three Southeast hospitals or is part of a wider problem.

"Somebody is going to have to take responsibility," said U.S. Rep. Phil Roe of Tennessee, the ranking Republican on the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs' oversight and investigation subcommittee.

(visit the link for the full news article)

The hospitals in question are in Miami, Murfreesboro, Tenn., and Augusta, Ga.

When I lived in Maine the Togus VA hospital had a terrible reputation... I stayed away from it like the plague..

then when I moved back to Roanoke Va. (my hometown) I learned that the VA. Hospital all but next door in Salem was equally bad and I went years with heath problems because I didn't want to go there... and my employer did not supply health insurance...

By the late 90's a succession of managers had turned the place around and now it is a fine institution...

Indeed every VA hospital I have ever been in (actually only that one and the William Hanes in Chicago for a burst appendix in 08) have been excellent...

So it grieves me as both a veteran and a concerned American that there are still VA hospitals that are sub par...

especially when you consider that overall the VA hospital system has so totally changed that it is considered a model hospital system.

www.huffingtonpost.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

This story was on the evening news tonight. Its tragic and could be so easily avoided if medical supply companies (and drug companies) would make sure the design parts (or drugs) from looking too much like each other... in this case two valves... one used for cleaning machines and the other for bodily insertion looked so much alike that they were confused exposing patients to the bodily fluids of other patients, some with HIV and Hepitis.

[edit on 15-6-2009 by grover]

How does this happen on accident at THREE different hospitals?! Geeez!

Love your dog!

OR, to my rather cynical mind or is that paranoid?

They wanted the Veterans out of the way by trying to bump off as many Vets as they could before the uprising?
And now that someone has joined the dots they're trying to find a scapegoat to take the rap.

Using contaminated equipment in 3 locals is surprising unless the sterylisation unit manages all 3 locations and tried to cut back on spending hoping no one would notice, bit like the hospitals here in the UK, the cleaning staff in the hospitals do not do a very good job because they don't get paid enough to care and the Government has reduced the staffing levels to bare minimum, taking out the ward sisters , who managed organising the cleaning to acceptable standards.
which have now dropped to allow MRSA to run rampant through the wards.

[edit on 16/6/09 by DataWraith]

training training training

What teaching hospital were these VA hospitals associated with.

Of the two VA hospitals i could go to one is staffed by UCLA
and the other is staffed by Loma Linda University hospital.

Both are top ranked teaching hospitals in the US.

The VA hospitals with problems have problem because there staff is not being trained right.

If these VA hospital are associated with and staffed by teaching hospitals that is where you should look.

If these VA hospitals are NOT associated with and staffed by teaching hospitals THAT IS the first thing that should be done.

This is what the VA did 30 years ago with the problem VA hospitals.
those problem hospitals are now the best VA hospitals