VA Healthcare Flubs Piling Up

As the U.S. Healthcare controversy continues to fester, the obvious example of government sponsored healthcare provides discouraging examples that demonstrate inattention to basic hygieneic practices, medical disciplines, and administrative procedures involving fatal outcomes.

June 16, 2009 - Report: VA Facilities Improperly Sterilized Colonoscopy Equipment - (Washington Post)
The Veterans Affairs inspector general report(pdf) follows revelations that VA hospitals in Florida, Georgia and Tennessee possibly exposed 10,320 veterans to hepatitis B, hepatitis C or HIV by not properly cleaning equipment. As of today, 13 of those veterans have tested positive for hepatitis B, 34 for hepatitis C and six for HIV, according to the VA.

Aug. 18, 2009 - 6 more cases of botched cancer treatment at Pa. VA - (AP)
The errors happened in a common surgical procedure to treat prostate cancer. That brings the total to 98 veterans who were given incorrect radiation doses over a six-year period at the hospital.The program had treated 114 cancer patients before it was halted when the problem surfaced in 2008.

and now,

Aug 24, 2009 - 1,200 veterans wrongly told they got fatal disease - (AP)
At least 1,200 veterans across the country have been mistakenly told by the Veterans Administration that they suffer from a fatal neurological disease. One of the leaders of a Gulf War veterans group says panicked veterans from Alabama, Florida, Kansas, North Carolina, West Virginia and Wyoming have contacted the group about the error.