A dentist has resigned from his position at a Wisconsin Veterans Affairs hospital amid accusations he treated hundreds of patients with improperly cleaned equipment.
The VA in Tomah, Wisconsin, announced the dentist’s resignation Friday, ahead of a scheduled Monday meeting of a panel used in situations that could warrant firing.
The hospital’s acting medical director, Victoria Brahm, said last week that an investigation was launched after a dental assistant reported last month that the dentist hadn’t properly cleaned equipment. Brahm says the dental equipment might have been cleaned, but it didn’t meet VA standards.
The dentist’s name wasn’t released.
Brahm says 592 veterans who received care from the dentist can receive free screenings for hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV. She says the risk of contracting an infection is low.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
Once again, oBozo’s people ‘taking care’ of our vets.
Equipment such as hand instruments, hand pieces, and drill bits, more commonly known in dentistry as burs, are centrally sterilized the same way operating room equipment is sterilized, by auxiliary personnel specially trained in packaging and sterilizing medical equipment. Surfaces in the dental operatory that are contaminated during the course of dental treatment, such as counters, tray tops, seats, etc., are routinely sterilized not by Dentists(which would be a true waste of a highly paid resource) but by Dental Assistants. So, lacking the details of the complaint made by the Dental Assistant, I can only ask what equipment exactly was the Dentist responsible for sterilizing, and why wasn’t that task delegated to a properly trained auxiliary many decades ago, as is the case in most government-operated dental facilities and virtually all private dental facilities. There is something pertinent to this case the reports I have heard are not telling us.
I can’t speak for all VA’s but the ones in California are staffed by a majority of Asians, mostly Filipino that speak minimum English, is it asking too much to have English speaking Americans doing these jobs? I don’t care what race, but for God’s sake speak English.