Mr. Chairman, we are here today because needlestick related health problems are costly and preventable. H.R. 5178, the Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act, will protect our nation’s health care providers from unnecessary health risks.
Each year, between 600,000 and 800,000 health care workers are accidentally stuck by needles. As a result, over 1000 of these injured workers go on to contract HIV, Hepatitis B, or Hepatitis C, and over 100 eventually die from their illness. Even those who are fortunate enough not to be infected by one of these diseases must suffer through six months of waiting before they and their families know that they are healthy.
This suffering can be avoided. Studies have shown that over 80 percent of needlestick injuries are avoidable. Passage of the Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act will require a strong national standard to prevent needlestick injuries, and will empower OHSA to increase the usage of safer needles.
These changes will reduce not only the suffering of injured providers and their families, but also the costs that hospitals must absorb each time a needlestick occurs. The post-exposure treatments that every injured worker must have cost up to $3000. My home state of California was the first state to pass this legislation, and estimates are that we will save over $100 million each year as a result.
Unfortunately, this legislation will be too late for many health care providers. Peggy Ferro, a health care worker in my district in San Francisco, was the first health care provider to pass away from AIDS as a result of a needlestick. She died at the young age of 49, while still fighting for passage of the legislation that we are debating today.
Although this legislation has not been passed soon enough to help Peggy, we can honor her memory by ensuring that safer needle technology is used in health facilities. I urge my colleagues to vote yes on H.R. 5178.
