Around the Nation

16 Ill After Exposure to Tainted Hospital Gear

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. -- Viral infections, including hepatitis, have been found in 16 patients exposed to contaminated equipment at Veterans Affairs medical facilities, a department spokeswoman said Friday.

Ten colonoscopy patients from the VA medical center in Murfreesboro, Tenn., have tested positive for hepatitis, and six patients at VA's ear, nose and throat clinic in Augusta, Ga., tested positive for unspecified viral infections, according to VA spokeswoman Katie Roberts.

Roberts played down a VA connection, saying, "There's no way to scientifically, conclusively prove they contracted this due to treatment at our facility."

More than 10,000 veterans have been warned to get blood tests because they could have been exposed to contamination at those two facilities and a medical center in Miami. All three sites failed to properly sterilize equipment between treatments, and the problems went back more than five years at the Murfreesboro and Miami hospitals.
ad_icon

Emotional Funeral for Officers

OAKLAND, Calif. -- This city virtually shut down for the funeral of four slain police officers, as a populace still in shock jammed a large sports arena, spilled into an overflow stadium and filled the streets to pay their last respects. The funerals for Mark Dunakin, John Hege, Ervin Romans and Daniel Sakai -- who authorities say were gunned down March 21 by a parolee -- closed major freeways into and out of Oakland for much of the day as their long processions made their way to and from the Oracle Arena. Uniformed officers turned out from law enforcement agencies across the country. The shootings were the deadliest incident for U.S. law enforcement since Sept. 11, 2001, and the deadliest in California in nearly four decades.

Death Sentences in Phoenix

PHOENIX -- The main suspect in the Phoenix Serial Shooter attacks, which put the city on edge for nearly two years, was sentenced to death for six murders. Dale Hausner was convicted this month of killing six people and attacking 19 others in random nighttime shootings in 2005 and 2006. Prosecutors said Hausner preyed on pedestrians, bicyclists, dogs and horses during a 14-month conspiracy.