Report: Surgical tools washed in hydraulic fluid(Duke Health NC)

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/HEALTH/06/13/dirty.instruments.ap/index.html

About 3,800 patients at two hospitals run by Duke University Health System were operated on last year with instruments that were washed in hydraulic fluid instead of detergent, hospital regulators said.

Duke Health Raleigh and Durham Regional hospitals put patients in "immediate jeopardy" in November and December by not detecting the problem, despite complaints from medical staff about slick tools, according to a report by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

The hospitals did not fix the problem for weeks, said the agency, which oversees patient care at hospitals that receive payments from federal insurance programs.

The mix-up apparently occurred when an elevator company drained hydraulic fluid into empty detergent barrels last summer. The detergent supplier later picked up the barrels and mistakenly redistributed them as washing fluid.

[short bus president]

1. This is very old news.

CNN must be desperate for ANYTHING to cover other than the imploding pResidency of the shrub.

BTW - these contaminated surgical instruments brought to you by the hospital system that might well have used them to transplant blood-type-mismatched organs. Go Duke! Good for basketball, not so hot with most anything else.

[Lerkfish]

2. oh my!

bad for families, but good for lawyers.

[Moderator]

3. locking

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http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3845840