Florida vet gets $1.25 million in colonoscopy lawsuit

MIAMI - An Air Force veteran and his wife have won a combined $1.25 million lawsuit against the U.S. government because he likely contracted hepatitis C at the Miami Veterans Administration Medical Center.

U.S. District Judge Adalberto Jordan ruled Wednesday that the center's staff didn't properly clean colonoscopy equipment, probably causing 70-year-old Robert Metzler's infection. The Miami Herald reports (http://hrld.us/ULrEL5 ) that Metzler and his wife, Lucy Ann Metzler, had sought $30 million.

.A VA investigation showed that more than 11,000 veterans received colonoscopies with improperly-cleaned equipment between 2004 and 2009 at VA hospitals in Miami, Murfreesboro, Tenn., and Augusta, Ga.

Metzler received his colonoscopy in 2007. He had tested negative for hepatitis C the previous year but tested positive in 2009.

Hepatitis C can cause severe liver damage.

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Information from: The Miami Herald, http://www.herald.com