The father of a U.S. Army veteran on Friday tweeted photos of what he called an “unsanitary and disrespectful” exam room that his son was forced to use during treatment for an ankle injury sustained in Iraq, KSL reported.
The pictures, which were released on Twitter, appear to show an overflowing trash bin and dirty bowls in a sink at the Veterans Affairs clinic in Salt Lake City. The photos were reportedly taken on April 5.
Wilson was there for a procedure to receive 18 injections around his ankle, Fox13Now.com reported. KUTV reported that the room appeared to be wear casts are given to patients.
"I figured they would say, 'Oh, this room's not clean' and take me somewhere else, but they just kind of blew past it, didn't acknowledge it," Christopher Wilson, an Iraq-war veteran who served in the Army for six years, told the station. "They're doctors, right? So I figure one of them was going to say 'Let's go somewhere else' or 'Give us a minute to clean it,' but nothing."
Dr. Karen Gribbin, the chief of staff at the George E. Wahlen Department of Veteran Affairs Medical Center, on Saturday reportedly said that Wilson should not have been in the room. She said the rooms should be cleaned prior to each patient and called on an investigation.
Gribbin told the news station that she spoke with the veteran and apologized. She said generally "we have enjoyed very high patient satisfaction ratings at our facility."
She told the station that she thanked Wilson for bringing the matter to her attention.
"I do not want another veteran to experience this," she told the station.