Dirty Doctors tools

VA: 3 Patients Positive for HIV After Exposure to Tainted Medical Equipment

So this article is pretty scary. The general message is that these patients became HIV infected because of unsterilized instruments that were used at their doctor’s office. The office is saying that it’s not positive that the HIV came from the unsterilized tools however this brings up a very interesting and terrifying topic. I don’t know about the rest of you but I am always worried when I go to the doctor that I am going to catch some weird sickness that someone came in with just by breathing the air. I know this is silly but air born infections are common and I just feel like if someone is in the office with something I am at risk of getting it. However I mostly trust my doctor that the tools they use on me will be clean, but how do we really know? We don’t and that’s the bad part. We don’t see them physically clean them we just expect that they did. This is something I worry about going into surgery as well. What if the tools they use were used and not taken care of perhaps one was overlooked. I don’t know if I believe that these two people got HIV from dirty tools but I suppose that it is very possible. It makes my skin crawl to think of the next time I have to go to the doctors and who the tools were being used on before they were used on me. I’m probably being a little over dramatic, but how do you feel about this subject?

I agree, every time I go to the doctors I’m always afraid I will catch something. I was just in the doctors today for an appointment, and I never know if people there are there for a checkup like me, or if they are really sick with something contagious. It is sad that we never will know if the doctors are sterilizing their tools, it is all hoping and praying they are doing their job right to keep their tools clean. Just like a person has to hope a tattoo parlor using clean needles. It is really sad we have to worry about such things.

Wow this article was so hard to read because it really makes you think about how many things can happen when you have surgery. It’s so shocking that a hospital could not do something as simple as sterilizing medical tools. That seems like it would have been the number one priority because if they don’t then it can spread the HIV like it did. That is a huge liability to them and will probably mean that many people will not go there in the future. I was shocked that a hospital could make such a mistake that will affect 3 people for the rest of their lives.

I definitely agree with you on this. Some people may say that you are being over dramatic but I would have to side with you. Of course we can’t always be sure that doctors tools are 100% clean but they definitely should be! A lot of times when I go to the doctor they have the “one time use” tools which are always a relief! Other times for simple things like the eye doctor they will take sanitary wipes and wipe everything down in front of you which is nice as well. I can’t believe that some got HIV from going to the doctor and having used unsterile objects. That is crazy! I would like to think that hospitals and doctor’s offices are the places where they are the most careful but obviously not all places are like this! If I were these people I would probably want to sue and make sure they take the proper cleaning steps!

This is wrong in kind of a sick way. You shouldn't have to worry that you are going to catch a disease when going to the doctors office or having surgery. These are there professions and they make lots of money, how can they not use sterilized tools. If the rumors are true that people have caught HIV viruses from unsterilized tools, ahh i just couldnt imagine. That would change your whole life in an instance. If this is really happening these doctors could get in lots of trouble.

This article caused me to think about a lot of things. Like you said, you might not know if a tool was skipped or missed, we are humans after all, we do make mistakes, I also never thought about catching a sickness from a person who was also in the hospital. It makes sense since anyone who is at the doctor has something wrong with them, and what ever they have might be contagious. I really hope an article likes this puts a little fear in the medical profession into taking extra care of the cleaning of their instruments. No doctor wants to be sued by their patients so maybe this was for the best. I have always gone to the doctor with a sense of security that the nurses and doctors knew what they were doing but now I have to second guess. It will make me a little uneasy from now on when ever I go in.

I would have to reply to this topic posted, after reading the article and seeing what it said. this is another story I have a hard time reading. First, I have educated in the blood borne pathogens to nurses and paramedics. So here it is you are a million times more likely to get Hepatitis B than HIV from blood or body fluid exposure. So can you see why the hospital is saying the infection is not likely. So next time you go to the doctors don't be scared about HIV because you are more likely to get Hep B over HIV. See HIV can no live outside the body but Hep B can. The way you get riad of the chance to contract such a disease is to disinfect the equipment. think about it for a moment this scope was out side the body in the air, so the virus had to die and if they said Hep B then I would agree they got it from the scope. So look up blood borne pathogen and read up on it you will be amused what is not infectious.