Vanderbilt Hospital: Reported Issue Puts Patients At Risk Of Hepatitis Or HIV

Image Credit: Canva

The Tennessee Conservative Staff –

A recent incident at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) has a Nashville attorney concerned that hundreds of individuals could be at risk of contracting HIV or hepatitis. 

The hospital has announced that they found a problem with how a solution was processed through a scope during certain endoscopy procedures.

According to the hospital, they have corrected the issue and reported it to the state health department. They say less than 4% of patients were affected in the last six months.

However, personal injury attorney Daniel Clayton is concerned about what that percentage actually means and how many people could potentially be affected.

“We don’t know if it’s hundreds or even more,” Clayton said.

Clayton is currently representing at least 20 patients who were notified of the mishap by VUMC. They were told they could be at risk of contracting HIV or hepatitis and that they would need to have blood drawn monthly to check for signs of either.

Some of those patients were exposed during scheduled procedures, while others were emergent cases. Some claim that hospital employees said there was cross-contamination of a solution, while others say that equipment was not properly sterilized.

One patient, Johnny Mozingo, had a colonoscopy done in July and found out about the incident three months later.

“I went to get a routine colonoscopy and because of that I am going to be in turmoil mentally,” said Mozingo. “It’s sleepless nights, near panic attacks at times and I have to go through this a whole year?”

Clayton noted that he was not aware of anyone who has tested positive for HIV or hepatitis, but also said there was a lack of information from VUMC.

“I think we need to hear more,” said Clayton. “I know if it were me, I would want to hear more from the wrongdoer other than ‘we’ve corrected this.’”

Mozingo also expressed concern that some patients may not have been made aware of the exposure and could be inadvertently spreading it around.

VUMC confirmed they are in the process of contacting endoscopy patients who may have been affected.

The full statement from VUMC is below:

We recently discovered an issue in how a solution was administered through the scope during a limited number of endoscopy procedures at the Vanderbilt Clinic. We immediately corrected the issue and reported it to the Tennessee Department of Health. We are in the process of notifying patients who had an endoscopy procedure and may have been affected.

We have determined this issue was limited in scope and the risk to patients is very low. We are focused on notifying those who may have been affected. It is less than 4% of endoscopy patients over the last six months.