VA hospitals in Murfreesboro, Tenn., and Augusta, Ga. Did not properly sterilize equipment used in colonoscopies. As a result, more than 11,000 veterans In all three hospitals were exposed to and five veterans tested positive for HIV, 25 for hepatitis C and eight for hepatitis B.
Now, the Miami Herald Reposts that that the Department of Veterans Affairs, “which in March 2009 revealed that more than 2,400 Miami-area veterans were given colonoscopies with improperly cleaned equipment, announced Tuesday that 79 veterans mistakenly were not notified they are at risk of contracting a disease such as HIV from the procedure.” The agency, which “said the failure to contact the 79 veterans came from administrative errors relating to their charts,” has “temporarily removed Mary Berrocal, director of the Miami VA Healthcare System,” and replaced her with Thomas Capello, director of the Gainesville VA hospital, “until a 30-to-60-day investigation is complete.”
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/07/06/1718202/79-miami-area-veterans-never-notified.html#ixzz0t3310Em4
Government regulators, retailers, manufacturers, and consumer experts are expressing concern over signs of “recall fatigue” in American consumers according to the Washington Post.
“We call it the Chicken Little syndrome. If you keep shouting at the wind — ‘The sky is falling! The sky is falling!’ — people literally become immune to the message.” said Craig Wilson, assistant vice president for quality assurance and food safety at Costco.
Jeff Farrar, associate commissioner for food protection at the Food and Drug Administration, said that the number of recalled products “is steadily going up, and it’s difficult for us to get the word out without oversaturating consumers.”
The government maintains a Web site, offering information about all kinds of recalls, and consumers can subscribe for e-mail alerts about specific products. For civil actions regarding personal injuries, contact a board certified personal injury attorney.
Toyota has been examined by U.S. lawmakers and auto-safety regulators after a series of recalls, most tied to unintended acceleration. Last week, the company halted sales of a new hybrid Lexus sedan because too much fuel spilled in government crash tests, posing a fire risk.
Now House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman and Representative Bart Stupak, chairman of the oversight and investigations panel have demanded that Toyota “turn over information about brake-override technology in older model vehicles and describe the role a consulting firm plays in the investigation of unintended acceleration.” Toyota “was asked to discuss the override systems in cars such as the 2005 Camry.”
The lawmakers “also asked Toyota, based in Toyota City, Japan, for information about the work that engineering and research firm Exponent Inc. is performing on unintended acceleration in Toyota vehicles.”
Toyota has promised, including in testimony this year before Waxman’s committee, to equip all new vehicles with brake- override software by model year 2011.
