Couple Gets $1.25 Million in Post-Colonoscopy Infection Judgment

A federal judge has awarded $750,000 to a man who contracted hepatitis C after a colonoscopy at a Veterans Administration hospital. The judge also awarded the wife of Robert Metzler, the patient, $500,000 when deciding their suit against the U.S. government.

Satisfied that Mr. Metzler hadn't been infected with hepatitis C before the June 13, 2007, colonoscopy with lesion removal, the judge called the federal government's evidence against culpability "less persuasive," according to court documents. Mr. Metzler received a letter from the Miami VA Healthcare Center in March 2009 warning that he should be tested for bloodborne illnesses, including hepatitis; the potential for infection arose from improper sanitization of colonoscopes and biopsy instruments between patients.

"The evidence presented by the Metzlers lead me to find that the negligence of the Miami VAMC in not sanitizing the tubing of the endoscope used in Mr. Metzler's colonoscopy probably caused Mr. Metzler to contract hepatitis C," writes the judge. "I realize that the chances of acquiring hepatitis C under these circumstances is slight, but I find there is nothing to preclude Mr. Metzler from being one of those two persons in a trillion or billion who do get the virus."

Mr. Metzler was among the 11,000 veterans who, according to an investigation conducted by the Department of Veterans Affairs, underwent colonoscopies in Florida, Tennessee and Georgia VA hospitals from 2004 through 2009 with equipment that might have been incorrectly cleaned.

Stephanie Wasek