Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2009. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
United Press International - August 24, 2009
Juan Rivera, 55, was diagnosed with HIV after having a routine colonoscopy at the veterans hospital in Miami in May 2008, Ira Leesfield, his lawyer, said.
Rivera, an Army veteran, learned after the colonoscopy the hospital had not properly sterilized the equipment used for the procedure, Leesfield said.
"He's angry, stunned and distraught that the government he served so
well for so long has done this to him," Leesfield said.
Rivera and others are suing the VA under the Federal Torts Claim Act, The Washington Post reported Monday. The VA, on its Web site, said no link has been established between the patients' conditions and the endoscopy procedures.
In April, a VA inspection of 42 of its medical facilities found just 43 percent were in compliance with equipment sterilization standards, the Post reported.
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