ce antibiotic-resistant staph infections from treatment, a common problem in U.S. hospitals. A study published last month in The New England Journal of Medicine reported VA hospitals reduced such infections by 60 percent in intensive care units around the country after three years of emphasizing hygiene education and sanitizer availability in its facilities. Diane Pinakiewicz, president of the advocacy group National Patient Safety Foundation, agreed that VA health care has done exceptionally well on the problem of health care-associated infections, which the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates afflict 1.7 million patients nationally, killing 99,000 people and costing up to $34 billion a year. Many hospitals have balked at pushes for greater transparency about infections, citing issues ranging from inconsistent reporting standards to patient privacy. "It's not a small problem," she said. "It's something patients should be aware of and very concerned about." VA officials say their overall record of providing care for veterans is strong, and that critics shouldn't generalize about VA care from the series of hospital infection cases in the last two years. The Disabled American Veterans, which represents some 1.2 million veterans, rallied to the VA's defense as criticism grew. "VA health care is clearly the best anywhere and has been so deemed by numerous private entities," Wallace Tyson, the group's national commander, said in a statement late last year. But subjecting those who had put their lives on the line for their country years ago to such alarming potential harm infuriates VA critics. There are stories like those of Tom Sharp, 63, a Vietnam veteran from Springfield. He wasn't notified for testing — the Dayton VA has contacted only the 535 patients who received invasive procedures such as extractions and root canals from the dentist from 1992 through last July 28. But Sharp has gotten his health and dental treatment at the center for nearly four decades, so he was worried after seeing TV reports of the dental clinic problems. "I insisted," he said. He came to the hospital and gave five vials of blood for testing. Lab analysis found no infections. "It tore me up. I was really nervous," Sharp said. "I go all my life, and then this." "This is abhorrent, that any patient who entered a VA hospital would be placed at such risk," said Rep. Mike Turner, R-Dayton. "Our veterans deserve the quality of care they were promised." In February, surgeries were halted temporarily at the Cochran VA Medical Center in St. Louis after potentially contaminated surgical equipment was discovered. Last year, improper equipment sterilization at the same center's dental clinics caused the VA to offer testing to 1,800 veterans who may have been exposed to blood-borne infections. "In my years in public service, this is one of the issues that has made me madder than anything I've ever seen," Rep. Russ Carnahan, D-Mo., said after the latest problems. In 2009, about 10,000 veterans treated at hospitals in Augusta, Ga., Miami and Murfreesboro, Tenn., were informed they could have been exposed to infection during colonoscopies or endoscopic procedures because of improperly cleaned equipment. Surprise inspections at 128 VA facilities afterward found all were following proper procedures, the VA said. At the Dayton center, whose first patients were Union Army veterans of the Civil War, an employee complaint last July brought VA investigators, who learned that dental instruments weren't properly cleaned between patients and that sterilization of instruments was skipped entirely. One dentist, the employees reported, sometimes left his gloves on between patients, answering his cell phone or drinking coffee — routine behavior by him since at least 1992. Employees told investigators a supervisor had been notified but didn't respond. The investigation began in late July and the clinic was closed for nearly a month in August. "We were horrified and surprised," Dr. John Daigh, an assistant VA inspector general, said in a congressional hearing. The dentist has denied the allegations, blaming co-workers he said were out to get his boss. The VA won't confirm the dentist's identity, but Dr. Dwight Pemberton, 81, told the Dayton Daily News in an interview this month that he had put no patients at risk and had been falsely blamed. With administrative action against him pending, Pemberton retired this year after more than 30 years with the agency. The hospital's director was reassigned, and the newspaper reported Pemberton's supervisor was fired. Some in Congress say VA officials have been slow to make needed changes at the hospitals to prevent recurrences, and