From NYDailyNews.com:
A Manhattan woman says she got the scare of her life when a hospital snafu during a routine procedure exposed her to dirty equipment carrying the HIV virus.
Milvia Lopez claims in a lawsuit that she was given an echocardiogram with an unsterilized scope at St. Vincent’s Hospital Manhattan in June 2007.
“Based on patient privacy laws, we cannot comment on the lawsuit at this time,” said Michael Fagan, vice president of government relations at St. Vincent’s.
According to the lawsuit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, several hours after Lopez was discharged from the hospital, she received an urgent phone call asking her to return.
St. Vincent’s even sent a limo to pick her up, the suit claims.
When Lopez returned to the hospital, she was told that nonsterile equipment had been used in her procedure and that she had been exposed to HIV as well as hepatitis B and hepatitis C.
Lopez, of Washington Heights, was immediately prescribed medicine to treat her exposure to HIV, along with some antibiotics to fight other bacteria.
She was then instructed to monitor her blood for infection.
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