Georgia VA Hospitals Under Scrutiny
Many Georgia veterans receive care at VA hospitals throughout the state. We have previously written about the lapses in safety at VA hospitals across the country which have negligently exposed these brave men and women to life threatening diseases.
Yesterday, a former medical supply technician at the St. Louis VA Medical Center told a congressional hearing that she warned more than a year ago that dental equipment sterilization was inadequate, but she was ignored.
Earlene Johnson testified before a hearing in St. Louis called by the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs. The committee met after the VA sent letters two week ago, warning 1,812 veterans treated at the St. Louis dental clinic that lapses in sterilization of dental equipment potentially exposed them to viruses including hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV.
A VA official revealed yesterday that some veterans have tested positive for the viruses but it was too soon to tell if the dental equipment was the cause.
Johnson began working at the St. Louis VA in December 2008 in the sterilization division. She did not work directly for the dental division but said she saw flaws in dental sterilization. She testified that starting in March 2009, she tried to alert VA officials at the St. Louis center and in Washington about the inadequacies, to no avail.
It was a full year later that the VA notified veterans of the sterilization problem and urged them to get blood tests. Meanwhile, Johnson was fired for what she believes was retaliation for the concerns she raised.
The VA determined in March 2010 that lapses in dental sterilization had occurred from Feb. 1, 2009, through March, 11, 2010. According to the VA,
the problem arose because workers prewashing dental equipment failed to use a detergent before the equipment was sterilized.
Veterans Affairs Committee chairman Bob Filner, D-California, said his concerns extend beyond the inadequate sterilization. He wondered why problems were substantiated in March, but no one was told until the June 28 letter and news release.
VA officials have said the delay was because officials were evaluating the risk posed to veterans.
Other VA centers around the country have had problems in recent years.
In 2007, Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington came under fire over concerns about conditions at the hospital and treatment of veterans. That same year, a surgeon at the VA hospital in Marion, Ill., resigned after a patient bled to death following gall bladder surgery. The VA found at least nine deaths between October 2006 and March 2007 resulted from substandard care at the Marion hospital.
In 2008, inadequate sterilization of endoscopy equipment at VA centers in Florida, Georgia and Tennessee potentially exposed 10,000 veterans to viruse
