It was recently discovered that a dentist at Wisconsin Veterans Affairs medical center had been using his own, improperly sterilized dental equipment to treat his patients, purposefully going against the center's protocol of single-use equipment. Since the dentist, whose identity has yet to be disclosed, began working at the center in fall of 2015, he has seen nearly 600 patients, all of whom are now learning they may have been exposed to HIV as well as hepatitis B and C. These patients are veterans who receive this treatment as partial compensation for their efforts to protect our country. House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin announced his disgust at the situation, voicing his belief that the Veterans Association needs to be reworked to prevent things like this from happening in the future. The dentist has been moved to an administrative position and is no longer seeing patients, however many are alarmed at the fact that he has yet to be fired. The hospital has announced that it will be providing free tests to those affected as well as follow-up treatment should it be needed. The probability of anyone being affected by this incident is very slim, however the medical center has decided to be extra careful to ensure that any possible damage is addressed.
It is shocking to know that a dentist working in such an important position as to treat veterans was so irresponsible and careless. Because of his actions, nearly 600 people will now have to take time out of their day to go and run tests, and should anyone be affected, deal with the consequences of this man's actions. It is shockingly unprofessional that the center did not fire immediately, as he has put so many lives in danger and went against the center's regulations for over a year. Just as medicine during the civil war was unclean and contributed to many cases of gangrene and other infections as well as diseases, the lack of sterilization will now affect many individuals. Hopefully no one was affected, however with a number as large as 600 that could possibly be affected, the chances of no cases of these horrible diseases is very low.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/02/health/va-dentist-exposure/index.html
It's terrible that this important business has not been properly inspecting it's employees.
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ReplyDeleteWhy has he not been fired?! I hope those who were treated by him are okay.
ReplyDeleteThis man should be fired immediately and the company that he works for should be sued for not investigating sooner. I hope that those 600 people don't have those diseases because of his carelessness.
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