SOURCE: www.mccaskill.senate.gov
Letter demands action from the VA to incident where area veterans may have been inadvertently exposed to disease
Washington, D.C., June 30, 2010 . . . Following the recent revelation that almost two thousand St. Louis veterans may have been exposed to dangerous diseases through contact with improperly sterilized dental equipment at the John Cochran VA medical Center in St. Louis, U.S. Senators Claire McCaskill, Kit Bond and Dick Durbin sent a letter to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Eric K. Shinseki outlining their disappointment and deep concern over the incident.
“Veterans receiving care at John Cochran deserve the best quality care available including the absolute assuredness that the hospital is meeting the most basic and critical professional standards of cleanliness and conduct,” wrote the senators.
The letter admonishes the VA for the delay in notifying veterans about the potential danger to their health and asks for the senators to be kept apprised of the developing situation at the John Cochran VA Medical Center in St. Louis. It also demands that Secretary Shinseki outline how the VA will ensure similar incidents don’t happen in the future.