Court rules against Tenn. vet who says he contracted hepatitis from unclean VA equipment

Court rules against Tenn. vet who says he contracted hepatitis from unclean VA equipment Years after thousands of veterans learned they could have been exposed to infections at government-run hospitals, many are still mired in legal battles seeking compensation from the Department of Veterans Affairs. He filed an administrative tort claim, which is the 1st step to filing a medical malpractice lawsuit against the VA, in December 2009, about 10 months after learning he had contracted the disease. But a district court in Nashville ruled Tennessee law bars medical malpractice claims more than three years after the date of the negligent act, unless the plaintiff is claiming fraudulent concealment. Most of the veterans he is representing did not test positive for infection, but all are claiming emotional distress from learning they were possibly exposed to infection. Government attorneys are attempting to use the 6th Circuit ruling to bolster their argument in Florida, but Rieder said there are differing court opinions on this medical malpractice issue that he thinks will help them prevail in court. "In 2009 you find out that a procedure you underwent years ago could have infected you with a deadly virus, that you might have transmitted to your spouse and then the government tells you that your claim expires before you ever found out about it," he said. But few cases out of the hundreds that were filed have ever made it to a trial. Randy Kinnard, a medical malpractice attorney in Nashville who is not involved in the case, said Tennessee's statute of limitations is the shortest in the country. Huddleston's attorney argued that his claim was timely under federal tort laws and that the deadline clock should start when the VA first notified him about the problem, not in the previous years when he was unaware of the infection. More than 6,000 of those veterans who were notified were treated at the Murfreesboro clinic, so the ruling may have an impact on other veterans seeking similar lawsuits in Tennessee. Huddleston was one of more than 10,000 veterans notified in 2009 that they needed to be tested for hepatitis B and C and HIV infection because of endoscopic cleaning mistakes at VA facilities in Murfreesboro, Tenn. and Miami. Air Force veteran Robert Metzler and his wife sought $30 million in damages in one of the first trials held last year over the contaminated colonoscopy equipment. Juan Rivera, a South Florida veteran who claimed he contracted HIV during an endoscopic colonoscopy at a Miami Department of Veterans Affairs hospital, agreed to a settlement out of court before it was set for trial, said his attorney, Ira Leesfield. William Rieder, an attorney based in Coconut Grove, Fla. Huddleston's lawsuit says he contracted hepatitis B, which can cause damage to the liver and kidney problems, from an October 2006 colonoscopy. "Here, for medical malpractice, the claimant had at most three years after the negligence within which to master his claim, regardless of when he discovered that he had been injured wrongfully," Kinnard said. "I think there are still some cases out there where people have not been represented because they don't know their rights. Leesfield said these cases are difficult because of the multiple steps to prove that the VA was negligent in causing these infections. Euel Kinsey, Huddleston's Detroit-based attorney, said he disagreed with the court's ruling because states set different limitations on when claims can be filed. The VA said in 2009 that 13 veterans tested positive for the Hepatitis B virus, 34 tested positive for Hepatitis C, and six veterans have tested positive for HIV. In Florida, there is a four-year statute of repose except in cases of fraud or concealment, andGeorgia law bars medical malpractice claims that are brought more than five years after the negligent or wrongful act or omission occurred. Court rules against Tenn. vet who says he contracted hepatitis from unclean VA equipment Trade News selected by Local Linkup on 02/06/2012