Veterans Possibly Exposed to Diseases, Including HIV Virus Which Could Lead to Malpractice and Disability
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Our firm has begun representing veterans seeking disability benefits. Ordinarily, the cause of verteran's disability relates to injuries sustained while in active duty. A recent report revealed that negligence at VA treatment facilities may have exposed thousands of veterans to infectious diseases, including the HIV virus.
Bill Poovey of the Associated Press recently reported the Veterans Affairs Department has launched an investigation to determine whether there’s a link between a recent veteran-patient’s positive HIV test and unsterilized equipment that could have potentially exposed thousands of veterans to HIV and other infectious diseases.
This comes following a warning issued by the VA to patients who treated at three clinics that they be at risk. Earlier this year, the VA warned more than 10,000 veterans to get blood tests because they could have been exposed to contamination while receiving colonoscopies in Murfreesboro, Tennessee and Miami. At this point, less than a third, 3,174 to be exact, have been notified of their test results. The agency is also trying to locate patients whose warning letters were returned.
The VA previously reported the existence of Hepatitis in 16 veteran-patients, but stated there was no way at that time to prove the patients had contracted the illness as a result of treatment at VA facilities. Of the 16, eleven tested positive for hepatitis C, a potentially life-threatening disease and five veterans tested positive for Hepatitis B. In an e-mail late Friday, the agency said it was further investigating the possibility of such a relationship.
Accodrding to the AP article, the VA has yet to release where the patient who tested positive for HIV was treated, and the agency failed to return telephone and e-mail messages Monday.
All three sites used endoscopic equipment made by Olympus American Inc., which stated it is helping the VA address problems with “inadvertently neglecting to appropriately reprocess a specific auxiliary water tube.”
If you receive a notice or warning of potential exposure, please be sure to have bloodwork done. If you have been infected, contact an attorney immediately to give yourself the best chance for recovery.