Lawsuit: Dirty Medical Equipment Exposed Woman To HIV

Doctor Inspects Way Too Much of Patients

Doctors at St. Vincent's Hospital exposed a Washington Heights woman to the HIV virus when they used dirty medical equipment, a lawsuit alleges.

According to the suit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, several hours after Milvia Lopez was discharged from the West Village medical center following an echocardiogram — which renders a two-dimensional image of the heart — she received an urgent phone call asking her to return. The hospital even sent her a limo to pick her up, according to the Daily News. When Lopez returned, she claims doctors told her that they inserted an unsterilized scope down her throat and that she had been exposed to the HIV virus as well as hepatitis B and C. Doctors then prescribed her with medicine to treat her exposure and antibiotics to fight off other bacteria, and instructed her to monitor her blood for infection.

The lawsuit — which asks for unspecified damages — doesn't make it clear whether or not Lopez contracted any illnesses or became sick following the June 2007 incident, but she claims she suffered psychological and emotional trauma, lost her hair during HIV treatment, and felt confined to her home in shame. According to the suit, St. Vincent's "engaged in a coverup which included the withholding of relevant medical records." The hospital declined to comment based on patient privacy laws.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Ben Muessig in News on November 28, 2009 1:21 PM

Comments [rss]

Stewart

There must be some details missing here; I have gone with both my mother and father when they had echocardiograms and I've never seen anyone insert a scope down their throat.

That said, if this story is true, it is horrifying and I wish this woman well.

youngpro

golddigger lookin' to get outta the Heights. 'Exposed' doesn't mean 'contracted.' Hep B is hospital-borne, like A is form restaurants, and C is from sex. You get exposed to all kinds of shit when you go to the hospital- it's a place where sick people go! She needs to prove a LOT here.

annaka

Your comment is so stupid I just had to say something. Being exposed to HIV is extremely serious, and the anti-virals that they give for exposure to HIV that she had to take are very hard on your system and have very serious side effects.

She had to take these drugs and worry that she contracted HIV - her lawsuit is entirely with merit. Can you imagine going into the hospital for something and worrying you may have contracted HIV? Going to the hospital does not mean you get automatically get exposed to HIV or Hepatits B or C. She doesn't need to prove "a LOT" because the hospital appears to already have admitted they inserted an unsterilized scope into her and prescribed her prophylatic medications.

I have seen alot of stupid comments on this site, but yours takes the cake.

just saying

This reminds me of the Woody Allen movie, Sleeper, where he checks into St. Vincent's Hospital for a relatively minor operation. But then he dies on the operating table at St. Vincent's and is cryonically frozen without his consent only to wake up 200 years later.