First VA colonoscopy trial begins in Miami

First VA colonoscopy trial begins in Miami


A trial began Monday on behalf of a U.S. Air Force veteran from Coral Gables who is claiming millions in damages, claiming he contracted life-threatening hepatitis C from a colonoscopy done with improperly cleaned equipment at the Veterans Administration
BY FRED TASKER

FTASKER@MIAMIHERALD.COM

Air Force veteran Robert Metzler says his life is ruined. His attorney says Metzler, of Coral Gables, faces a future of exhaustion, loss of sexual companionship and the threat of cirrhosis or liver cancer. But the lawyer defending the Veterans Administration says Metzler might be cured of the underlying condition, hepatitis C, within a year.

Those were the sharply contrasting opening statements presented in Miami federal court Monday in a medical malpractice case filed against the VA. It’s the first such case that has gone to trial after some 11,000 U.S. military vets learned that the colonoscopies they had at three VA hospitals, including Miami’s, were performed with improperly cleaned equipment.


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