Miami vets get procedures with unsterile equipment (thousands of colonoscopies)

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/AP/story/964045.html ^

[chessplayer]

MIAMI -- A Veterans Affairs hospital here has notified thousands of patients that their colonoscopies were performed with improperly sterilized equipment, officials said Monday.

[yazoo]

If having a tube stuck up my rectum is the price I pay for those great drugs they gave me, I’m in.

[Islander7]

Federal Emergency Medicine Ageny

[blam]

Ahem. It may not be all bad????

Don't Poo-Poo Technique: Fecal Transplant Can Cure Superbug, Doctors Say

More than 90 per cent of C. difficile patients are cured by fecal transplants, studies suggest

Last Updated: Tuesday, November 13, 2007 | 12:17 PM ET CBC News

A controversial new treatment, which involves the transplantation of human waste, can treat cases of C. difficile infection. But only a handful of physicians in Canada undertake the messy procedure.

Clostridium difficile is a superbug that commonly spreads in hospital settings and has been linked to the deaths of at least 2,000 people in Quebec since 2003, as well as in other provinces.

Though C. difficile can be kept in check by good bacteria in the bowel, problems can arise when the superbug is treated by antibiotics such as vancomycin. The antibiotics sometimes wipe out the good bacteria but fail to completely kill the C. difficile — leaving enough of it that it later flourishes.

[snip]

[TheThinker]

Another argument against government-run socialized healthcare.

[TheThinker]

You can't sue the government for inadequate care like you can a private hospital so there's no reason for them to treat you with respect.

[Veto!]

Man, this is a big issue! We better put the government in charge of all health care....

Exactly. We can all get free colonoscopies then.

Lib friend of mine is a physician at a VA hospital. She was amazed to discover that vets are terrific fabulous wonderful people.

I heard from another rabid lib friend who went to Iraq as a translator that US servicemen and women are the best people she'd ever met. She came home 100% behind Bush.

Apparently libs can be converted if they're tossed into the US military zone and actually relate to real Americans.

[Enchante]

This is appalling mis-treatment of our vets.

Clearly the solution is to put Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, and the rest of the ‘Rats in charge of all health care in the country.... then the world.

[Osage Orange]

A HUGE number of really bad doctors and nurses end up at the VA.

Let me help you........

A huge number of bad doc's, nurses, and ancillary bedside practitioners are EVERYWHERE!

I could tell you stories...and I've never worked in a VA Hospital...although I have taught in one.

[happygrl]

That is GROSS!!!

[ops33]

One of the reasons why, even though I have a service connected disability, I will not use the VA for medical treatment.

[Does so]

"...it is a sad state of affairs for the medical facility to do an invasive procedure without sterilization..."

This story was on WIOD-AM radio in Miami. They interviewed an affected Marine who said the sterilization problem had surfaced at a VA hospital in Tennessee also.

[lula]

Perhaps they ARE trying to save on health care costs by getting rid of our Vets.

[nomad]

Actually that kind of scope is often not sterilized.It is deconed then undergoes high level sanitizing,one level below sterilization.Those scopes are delicate instruments and if they underwent certain forms of sterilization they could be damaged and as long as they come into contact with intact mucus membranes they are, technically, not required to be sterilized.Any Sterile Processing Techs out there?Tell me,do they still use Gluteraldehyde, or have they switched to something else?Even if they didn`t sanitize them,wouldn`t the standard use of washer/sanitizers reduce the risk?Are they used on colonoscopes?

[American in Israel]

Great way to spread AIDS eh? Ah, the quality of Veteran care in a thankless liberal world.

[2harddrive]

He PROBABLY has acute Hepatitus/AIDS now...as well as rectal leprosy.