Friday, July 13, 2012

I was shattered: teen's dental HIV scare

I was shattered: teen's dental HIV scare


Patients say they are shocked and shattered after being treated at the Bundaberg Dental Clinic in north Queensland on November 6 - the day instruments were not sterilised.

A 16-year-old girl is one of hundreds of patients being tested for HIV and Hepatitis.

The teenager found out about the potentially deadly mistake when Queensland Health staff phoned her.

"They said to me that there was a risk I could have HIV, Hepatitis B and C," she said.

She says she could not believe what she was hearing.

"I was shattered, I didn't know what to do really. I went to work, I felt sick to my stomach," she said.

"I'm just disgusted with what the hospital has done... I just said 'look, I work in hospitality I don't want to put everyone else at risk'.

"It's easy to cut your finger in the kitchen... and so I had to quit my job and now I've got to find a way to pay my rent."

The teenager says she became even more upset when she went for a blood test to see if she caught anything during her treatment.

"They didn't tell me anything else, they just said to me it's a precaution so I don't actually know if the unsterilised tools were used on me," she said.

Queensland Health says Bundaberg patients are being offered counselling while they await their test results, but the 16-year-old says she has not received that offer.

"Well I thought they would have offered me that as soon as they called but they didn't," she said.

"They don't care. They should've offered that straight away, it's a very stressful situation, it's a life and death situation."

Michelle Kendall is another Bundaberg dental patient being tested for blood borne diseases.

She says she has not been offered counselling either.

"No nothing. I have no idea what's going on," she said.

The mother of five had a tooth pulled the day the instruments were not sterilised and she says she is in shock.

"I can't concentrate... I went to get my blood test this morning and I've got to wait until Saturday to get the results. Well, the first lot of the results anyway," she said.

Ms Kendall says she has lost all faith in Queensland's health system.

She says she will never been able to go back to the Bundaberg hospital.

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