Florida Representative: Find Vets Exposed to Unclean Equipment

Following her requested briefing by Veterans Affairs officials, US Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) said the department must do a better job of finding and testing veterans who may have been exposed to contaminated medical equipment at a VA hospital in Miami.

More than 10,400 patients who underwent endoscopic procedures at three VA facilities have been getting follow-up blood tests after it was discovered earlier this year that the equipment involved had not been properly sanitized. The exposure risk involves three VA facilities: the Miami hospital; an ear, nose, and throat clinic in Augusta, Ga.; and a hospital in Murfreesboro, Tenn. Five patients have tested positive for HIV, three in Miami, and 34 have tested positive for hepatitis. It is not clear whether the infections are linked to the VA centers.

The VA has revised down the number of people estimated to be at risk in Miami from 3,348 to 2,609. Of that risk pool, all but 332 have been notified, officials said at the briefing.

That number remains "too high," Ros-Lehtinen insisted. The VA has sent each person two letters and phoned multiple times, but patients may have moved or changed telephone numbers, she said. "We just can't say, 'Oh well we tried our best,'" Ros-Lehtinen said, adding the agency should continue outreach efforts to homeless shelters around the country in search of these veterans.

Sixty-six veterans in Miami have declined testing. "I encourage the VA Miami folks to be more aggressive in trying to encourage these veterans to be tested, for the veterans' own health as well as the health of the community," Ros-Lehtinen said.

Congress must "make sure that this scandal will never unfold again because the veterans deserve the very best care," the Florida representative said.

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