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Oof. That's a bad fuck up.
Something similar happened in Canada a few decades ago. I came across a survivor of that episode a few years ago. He was still mad about it (understandably).
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'd be upset too, but Hep B/C and HIV are survivable these days. It would really suck to know that you were exposed to CJD though. There's no surviving that one.
Survivable does not mean you are going to have a good time. With HIV you are on strong antivirals for the rest of your life. Anything is better than slowly dying but its not a walk in the park.
From an American point of view, HIV treatment would absolutely ruin my life, both from the obvious health perspective, but financially.
Bankrupt, homeless, sick as a dog... I could easily see someone taking their own life in that scenario.
Is the medicine there? Sure. If you're rich.
Hell, South Park did an episode that made the cure for HIV just be money, because that is certainly a requirement, at least here.
There is no evidence to date of any infections resulting from this incident.
I'd like to see an update after 6 months or a year. If they just started doing this then the sample size would be really small.
this post was submitted on 16 Nov 2023
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