Veteran Gets $1.25 Million in Colonoscopy Lawsuit Settlement

http://www.theledger.com/article/20121122/NEWS/121129775/1374?Title=Veteran-Gets-1-25-Million-in-Colonoscopy-Lawsuit-Settlement-


Veteran Gets $1.25 Million in Colonoscopy Lawsuit Settlement
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: Thursday, November 22, 2012 at 11:55 p.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, November 22, 2012 at 11:55 p.m.

MIAMI | An Air Force veteran and his wife have won a combined $1.25 million lawsuit against the U.S. government because he likely contracted hepatitis C at the Miami Veterans Administration Medical Center.
Facts

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U.S. District Judge Adalberto Jordan ruled Wednesday after a nonjury trial that the center's staff didn't properly clean colonoscopy equipment, probably causing 70-year-old Robert Metzler's infection. The Miami Herald reports that Metzler and his wife, Lucy Ann Metzler, had sought $30 million.

A VA investigation showed that more than 11,000 veterans received colonoscopies with improperly-cleaned equipment between 2004 and 2009 at VA hospitals in Miami, Murfreesboro, Tenn., and Augusta, Ga.

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The hospitals used equipment that had been rinsed after each patient rather than being sterilized by steam and chemicals as called for by the manufacturer. Investigators who took apart water tubes on some of the equipment that was supposed to be clean and ready for use instead found "discolored liquid and debris."