CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Thousands of military veterans across the South are waiting to find out whether they were exposed to infectious diseases by government clinics that performed colonoscopies and other procedures with equipment that wasn’t properly sterilized.
Veterans Affairs spokeswoman Katie Roberts said officials are working to determine whether mistakes that may have exposed patients to infections at medical centers in Tennessee and Florida and a clinic in Georgia could have also happened at other VA facilities.
The VA recently warned some veterans who had colonoscopies as far back as five years ago at its hospitals in Murfreesboro, Tenn., and Miami.
“What if you had to worry about giving your wife AIDS?” said Navy veteran Wayne Craig, 52, of Elora, Tenn.
