Lawmakers Seek Investigation Of All VA Facilities In Ohio

Sen. Sherrod Brown and Rep. Mike Turner on Thursday urged the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki to establish a dedicated task force to investigate issues surrounding misconduct at the Dayton VA Medical Center.

The urging came after two patients tested positive for hepatitis B due to improper infection control practices at the center's dental clinic.

Brown and Turner as asking Shinseki to make recommendations to prevent the situation from happening again in Dayton and across the country.

“We must determine how the VA allowed patient care to erode to the point where hundreds of patients in Dayton had to be tested for diseases due to exposure to blood-borne pathogens,” Brown said. “Establishing a regional taskforce will reassure our veterans that the VA remains dedicated to their care and patient safety while providing them with a seat at the table and the opportunity to participate in the improvement of the VA system.”

”Since learning of this outrageous occurrence at the Dayton VA, it’s become apparent that there is a larger issue at hand within this facility, the VISN 10 Network, and perhaps nationally. A regional taskforce will place a finer microscope on the VA and its culture, which has allowed this failure to occur. We owe it to our veterans to take every step necessary to ensure they get the care that they deserve and rightfully have earned,” said Turner.

This task force would review all of Veterans Integrated Service Network 10’s (VISN 10) facilities, activities, and services to help identify how procedural lapses allowed this situation to happen, and what measures can be taken to prevent similar scenarios moving forward. VISN 10 includes Ohio and portions of Indiana and Kentucky.

Brown and Turner proposed that the task force include health care professionals, VA medical professionals and employees, veterans, and leaders in the veteran community to perform a collaborative, tough, and fair look at VISN 10 to provide invaluable insight to the VA and policy makers. The task force’s findings would improve VISN 10’s services at all VA facilities.

In February, the Dayton VAMC issued a report indicating that several employees may have known for years that a practitioner was using unhygienic practices— exposing veterans to blood-borne pathogens through non-sterilized dental equipment.