A Nashville man who underwent a routine colonoscopy at a Vanderbilt clinic in July 2024 says he didn't learn until roughly two and a half months later that he may have been exposed to HIV, hepatitis B or hepatitis C during the procedure. Bzur Haun has now filed a lawsuit against Vanderbilt University Medical Center seeking compensatory damages, claiming contaminated simethicone was used during his colonoscopy and that the delay in notifying him caused lasting harm.
According to WZTV, Haun underwent his procedure on July 18, 2024, and it wasn't until months later that a call center told him he had potentially been exposed to bloodborne pathogens, specifically mentioning HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C. Haun's attorney, Daniel Clayton, filed the lawsuit on August 25 and says he represents 72 clients in connection with the matter, believing more than 100 patients were at risk of exposure. Haun has not tested positive for HIV, hepatitis B or hepatitis C, but he told WZTV he wants to protect others from experiencing what he went through.
A Monthslong Wait for Answers
Vanderbilt University Medical Center has said it identified an issue in how a limited number of endoscopy procedures were performed in 2024, and reported the issue to the Tennessee Department of Health. The hospital system says it contacted all patients who had one of the affected procedures and has identified no adverse clinical outcomes related to the issue, according to the same WZTV report. VUMC also says it corrected the endoscopy-procedure issue immediately, though the hospital has not answered questions about what corrective measures were taken or how the potential exposure happened in the first place.
Davidson County health officials were also looped in around the same time. Davidson County Health Department spokesperson Matthew Peters confirmed in October 2024 that local officials were notified of an “inappropriate practice” tied to endoscopy care at VUMC, according to The Tennessee Conservative, prompting county health officials to monitor potential bloodborne pathogen exposure risks. VUMC spokesperson John Howser said that same month that less than 4% of endoscopy patients treated over a six-month period in 2024 were affected by the scope solution issue, though the hospital declined to state the total number of patients exposed, per Becker's ASC.
Why Simethicone Is at the Center of the Lawsuit
The lawsuit alleges contaminated simethicone was used during Haun's procedure. Simethicone is a silicone-based defoaming agent gastroenterologists use to clear gas bubbles and improve visibility during endoscopies, but research published in the American Journal of Infection Control has established that the substance is hydrophobic and leaves a viscous residue inside endoscope channels that resists standard high-level disinfection, fostering bacterial growth and biofilm.
That risk isn't new information to the medical device industry. Endoscope manufacturer Olympus warned healthcare providers as early as 2009 that simethicone residue cannot be fully removed by standard reprocessing, according to the World Gastroenterology Organisation, which is why gastrointestinal medical societies have recommended low concentrations or single-use administration methods. Clayton cited single-use simethicone as a best practice in Haun's lawsuit, and Clayton said compensatory damages should be available to Haun under the law.
Physical and Emotional Toll, and a Delay in Disclosure
Haun says the ordeal has taken a real physical and emotional toll, describing stress, anxiety, shingles, back pain, high blood pressure, emotional stress and unexpected weight gain. The gap between his procedure and the phone call informing him of the risk is a common thread in these cases nationally. Healthcare infection control authority Lawrence Muscarella has noted that while ethical standards from groups like the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy call for timely disclosure of infection breaches, notifying patients about equipment contamination remains largely discretionary under state and federal law, a dynamic detailed in a report from Gastroenterology & Endoscopy News.
Standard public health protocol for potential bloodborne pathogen exposure calls for baseline blood screening followed by additional tests at three and six months post-procedure to rule out HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C, since these viruses can take time to become detectable, according to a report from VerifyMDS. That same report notes the FDA's MAUDE database has logged more than 10,000 adverse event reports tied to flexible endoscopes nationwide, underscoring that cleaning and cross-contamination challenges with these devices are not unique to Vanderbilt.
Legal Landscape: Tennessee's Damage Caps
Haun's case, and any others Clayton plans to file, will unfold under Tennessee's statutory limits on malpractice recoveries. Under Tennessee Code § 29-39-102, non-economic damages for pain, suffering and emotional distress in medical malpractice actions are capped at $750,000 for standard injuries and $1,000,000 for catastrophic claims, while economic damages such as medical costs remain uncapped, according to legal analysis from Mama Justice. A 2026 national study of 460,000 medical malpractice payments found that states with caps like Tennessee's averaged $217,000 per payment, compared to $292,000 in states without caps, according to Settlement Insight, a roughly 34% reduction in average compensation.
The lawsuit against VUMC follows a pattern seen elsewhere after similar exposure notifications: national law firm Sauder Schelkopf launched a class action investigation into Vanderbilt's endoscopy practices after the October 2024 patient notifications went out. Clayton has said he plans to file additional lawsuits on behalf of other affected patients, and Haun's case may be among the first of several to test how Tennessee's damage framework applies to claims rooted primarily in fear of infection and emotional distress rather than a confirmed diagnosis.
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