Hundreds of Veterans Potentially Exposed to HIV, Hepatitis

Hundreds of veterans may have been exposed to HIV and Hepatitis in Tomah, Wis. because a dentist failed to follow proper sanitary procedures.

According to WEAU News, the number of potential exposures stands at 592. Victoria Brahm, the acting medical director at the Tomah VA Hospital, told the network the dentist was using his own equipment and washing it himself after each patient during a 12-month period that ended in October.

Standard practice at this facility is to use sterile equipment that is disposed of after one use.

Veterans who received care from the dentist may have been infected with Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, or HIV.

“It was purposeful that he was violating VA regulations,” Brahm said, according to WEAU. “During all of the orientation, he used all of our equipment. He used it appropriately, so it was very purposeful from what we found in our investigation that he knew exactly what he was doing, and preferred to use his own equipment against procedure.”

The outlawed practice was discovered when a temporary worker noticed what was going on.

“This kind of incident isn’t isolated to the Tomah VA. It seems like hardly a week goes by without a new report about how myriad VAs across the country are failing veterans,” Concerned Veterans for America executive director Mark Lucas said in an emailed statement.

“Congress can prevent tragedies like this by passing strong accountability measures that will drive employees to be careful, top performers. Right now, incentives to follow the rules aren’t in place at the VA.”

The VA medical system has been under the microscope since a pattern of problems was uncovered in 2014. Some centers were using falsified wait lists and others had improper sanitary procedures. Dozens of veterans were reported to have died waiting to see a doctor.

The organization even admitted to wrongly declaring 4,000 veterans dead between 2011 and 2015.

Changes have been made, but problems still exist.

Several people have been mentioned as potential secretaries to lead the VA in President-elect Donald Trump’s administration, including former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.