Augusta VA says clean equipment issues resolved

By Russ Bynum

Associated Press

JESUP, Ga. — The director of the Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in Augusta said last week she is “100 percent sure” the center has eliminated problems with sterilizing equipment that may have exposed more than 1,000 veterans to infectious body fluids.

Rebecca Wiley, director of the Augusta VA medical center, said the hospital has stepped up training, reduced the number of facilities used to clean medical equipment and subjected workers to monthly inspections to ensure they follow correct sterilization procedures.

At a hearing on veterans’ health clinics, Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) asked Wiley for a progress report six months after VA hospitals in Augusta, Miami and Murfreesboro, Tenn., warned more than 10,000 veterans they might be at risk after being treated with endoscopic equipment that had been improperly cleaned.

“The VA has engaged in a very aggressive approach in assuring all reusable medical equipment is properly processed and is safe for use,” Wiley said. “In Augusta, I’m 100 percent sure.”

The Augusta VA center sent warnings to 1,069 veterans treated last year at its ear, nose and throat clinic. Two Augusta patients tested positive for HIV, two tested positive for hepatitis B and four for hepatitis C.

The VA says it’s impossible to know if veterans were infected by unclean equipment.

For all three hospitals combined, eight people have tested positive for HIV, 12 for hepatitis B and 37 for hepatitis C.

The VA is offering free medical treatment to affected veterans.

Wiley told the Associated Press after the hearing that a small number of veterans who may have been exposed to infection at the Augusta clinic have filed claims for further compensation, but she did not know how many.

“There have not been a significant number at this time,” Wiley said. “We are paying special attention to those clients. We’re assisting those veterans with their claims and making sure that process is as expedient as possible.”

While the problems in Miami and Tennessee were caused by endoscopes used in colonoscopies, the Augusta patients were treated with a laryngoscope — a scope used to look inside a patient’s throat.

Wiley said the scope was cleaned between procedures, but not using the sterilization procedure specified by the manufacturer.

She said her staff has since been trained in the proper cleaning procedure and has passed a series of monthly inspections. The number of areas inside the Augusta hospital used to sterilize equipment has been reduced from seven to two, she said, to improve supervision and reduce potential for error.

Isakson, who sits on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, said the VA appeared to be “doing everything they can” to ensure the mistakes don’t happen again. He said claims for compensation by affected vets “should be expedited.”

“I think they are a special case,” Isakson said. “A small number of people were affected, but it’s a tremendous impact.”