Nashville, Tenn.-Fox News 17 in Nashville is reporting that Vanderbilt Medical Center has warned at least one patient of possible exposure to HIV or hepatitis due to unsterilized equipment
The original story from FOX 17 is below.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WZTV) — An issue with some endoscopy procedures at Vanderbilt’s clinic has some patients worried. Vanderbilt says the issue surrounds how a solution was administered.
A midstate attorney tells FOX 17 news his client is worried about exposure to infections like hepatitis or HIV.
One patient received that phone call and was terrified.
A routine colonoscopy became a nightmare for that patient who wanted to remain anonymous.
She said more than two months after the procedure, Vanderbilt staffers told her she could have been exposed to HIV, Hepatitis B and C.
A simple checkup changed the 79-year-old great-grandmother’s life forever.
“I have been so careful my whole life trying to stay protected from everything,” she said.
She called Vanderbilt back on Monday with questions after the shock wore off.
She said she was told her potential infections were because a nurse did not sterilize the equipment.
She said the staff offered to pay for the colonoscopy. This was not a good enough answer for the worry she ‘s going through.
She also told FOX 17 News she had no guidance on what to do next and how to prevent giving it to others like her husband.
“I am kind of in the blind right now except for going on the internet and researching it out myself and you know how that goes some things are true and some things aren’t. I have no guidance whatsoever even in the testing,” she said.
She sought the help of Nashville Attorney Daniel Clayton with what happened to her.
“A hospital should be a safe place to go and it’s the hospital’s duty to make sure they properly train their nurses and employees,” he said.
He said other patients also received the same dreadful news.
Vanderbilt told FOX 17 News less than 4 percent of endoscopy patients over the last six months may have been exposed but has not given a specific number yet.
One is already too many, said the anonymous patient.
“I am worried about everyone and everything and how I can continue my life in a normal way,” she said.
A spokesperson for Vanderbilt Medical Center sent us this statement:
“We recently discovered an issue in how a solution was administered through the scope during a limited number of endoscopy procedures at the Vanderbilt Clinic. We immediately corrected the issue and reported it to the Tennessee Department of Health. We are in the process of notifying patients who had an endoscopy procedure and may have been affected.”
“I am glad after the fact they are taking corrective measures but as a hospital and as an institution they need to make sure these are taking care of it on the forefront,” said Attorney Clayton.
“The next six months I have to adjust my life and everything that I do wondering if I do have it,” said the anonymous patient.
She said there needs to be continual testing before a positive infection can be declared.
Attorney Clayton said he plans to file a lawsuit.
The original story from FOX 17 is linked here
