Surgeries have resumed at the John Cochran VA Medical enter in St. Louis, more than a month after operations were cancelled with spots were found on surgical equipment.
The Veterans Affairs department has clear the reopening of all ten surgery rooms.
Senator McCaskill says she wishes other hospitals had the same disclosure standards that Cochran has.
“I am most worried about the level of confidence our veterans have in Cochran right now,” she says. She is concerned that the publicity about sterilization problems at Cochran has weakened confidence veterans should have in the quality of services they are getting. But, she says, if the kinds of problems that happened at Cochran had happened at any other hospital, they probably would not have become publicly-know.
The Veterans Administration has given a $6.8-milion contract to a St. Louis company to design and remodel the sterile processing department at the John Cochran V-A hospital.
The hospital estimates more than 200 veterans who had life-or-limb-threatening conditions have gotten surgeries at other hospitals since the surgery unit was closed at Cochran..
Sen. McCaskill discusses Cochran during teleconference. 2:50 mp3