Dental patients at the Wisconsin Veterans Affairs Medical Center are at risk of possibly being exposed to the viruses of HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C. This report came out on December 4 and it has left about 600 patients anxious about the result if they are infected or not.
In an article published by Fox 13, this whole scare started when a dentist working at the said center have re-used some dental equipment instead of the sterilized and disposable items that the institution requires. The acting medical director of the facility, Victoria Brahm, told the press that the person responsible for this malpractice did it on purpose when he violated the VA rules.
Brahm added that he knows how to use things appropriately since he did it so well during the orientation. This shows that he knows exactly he was doing and just chose to use his materials to disobey the rules. Unfortunately for him, someone noticed what he did and called the authorities to have him checked.
According to CNN, VA didn't give the identity of the dentist behind this issue, but he will be facing the review board sometime this week. Matthew Gowan, the spokesman for the VA, also said that the review committee will try him and will then decide the consequences he had to face from his actions. He has been with the company since October of last year and has been involved with 592 patients. His patients were given the news that they may have been exposed to HIV and hepatitis.
They can get free testing and a follow-up check courtesy of the VA, and their blood test confirmations would be released after two or three weeks. Do you think that what the dentist did behind this issue is intentional? Share your thoughts in the comments area below.
