That headline sounds sensational doesn’t it? Well unfortunately for many patients at three VA hospitals, it isn’t far off the mark. A fifth patient has now tested positive for HIV and 7 more have tested positive for hepatitis after being exposed to contaminated medical equipment at those facilities.

So far there have been 33 people who have tested positive for hepatitis. These people were treated with endoscopic equipment that wasn’t properly sterilized. That equipment is used for things like colonoscopies and ear, nose & throat procedures. Yuck!! You mean to tell me that NASA can launch a man to the moon and satellites in space, but the damn VA hospital can’t clean their equipment properly? WTF????

Nearly 11,000 of our brave men and women have been exposed at the hospital in Miami, Murfreesboro, Tennessee and Augusta, Georgia. The VA has said the problems with the endoscopic equipmenthad gone on for years, but were discovered in December when officials learned the Murfreesboro facility wasn’t following cleaning procedures the manufacturer recommended. It issued an internal alert for hospitals to check procedures, and the problem at Augusta was discovered in January. The endoscopic equipment is made by Center Valley, Pa.-based Olympus American Inc., and the company has said its recommended cleaning procedures are clear.

The VA is providing a hot line for veterans and their families and posts the information it is releasing on its Web site. So you survive the war in Iraq or Afghanistan and you get home only to be given HIV or hepatitis at a VA hospital? If that’s not the worst thank you I’ve ever heard of, I don’t know what is. Our veterans deserve better than this. Not cleaning equipment is very, very stupid!