Tampa VA Hospital Faces Investigation

[Judi Lynn]

Tampa VA Hospital Faces Investigation

TAMPA, Fla., Apr. 11, 2006
(AP) Staff members at the nation's busiest VA hospital failed to ensure that cranial implants prepared for two recent operations had been sterilized, an investigation found.

A subcommittee of the House Veterans Affairs Committee said in a statement Monday that it will investigate the problems at the James A. Haley VA Medical Center in Tampa.

An investigation by the VA inspector general found that in one of the two cases in February surgeons inserted an unsterile plate in the skull of a patient who had been injured in a traffic accident, but there was no evidence of complications.

A week later, surgeons averted a similar mistake only because the implant did not fit the patient, who had been injured by a roadside bomb in Iraq. The surgical staff assumed incorrectly that the implant had been sterilized by the manufacturer, the statement said.
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http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/04/11/ap/national/mainD8GTT0UG0.shtml