I was a patient that was possibly exposed to HIV due to poor sanitary procedures on equipment used for endoscopies and sigmoidoscopies by the VA in ~2004. Luckily, I didn’t get infected. Also, by the time the VA caught on and notified me of the possible exposure/infection years later, I was already confident I didn’t have HIV since I was getting regular tests anyway.
Still, it’s scary to think that you could get infected by just going to a medical procedure. There’s really nothing you can do to prevent that since all you can do is trust the system. Also, I believe that the VA informed me because they were a federal agency. Had it been a private provider, they could’ve covered it up to protect themselves. Makes me wonder if people have been infected by medical providers only to think it was because of something else.
I was a patient that was possibly exposed to HIV due to poor sanitary procedures on equipment used for endoscopies and sigmoidoscopies by the VA in ~2004. Luckily, I didn’t get infected. Also, by the time the VA caught on and notified me of the possible exposure/infection years later, I was already confident I didn’t have HIV since I was getting regular tests anyway.
Still, it’s scary to think that you could get infected by just going to a medical procedure. There’s really nothing you can do to prevent that since all you can do is trust the system. Also, I believe that the VA informed me because they were a federal agency. Had it been a private provider, they could’ve covered it up to protect themselves. Makes me wonder if people have been infected by medical providers only to think it was because of something else.