Friday, September 28, 2012

Filthy Surgical Instruments in the O.R. are Dangerous to Patients

Recent advancements in technology permit surgeons to operate on patients with less trauma than ever before. It's called minimally invasive surgery and it has taken the medical world by storm. As compared to traditional surgery, it requires a smaller incision, less recovery time, and reportedly fewer side effects. The catalyst for minimally invasive surgery is the endoscope—a narrow instrument with a light and camera that sends an image to a screen watched by surgeons. Instead of making large, traumatic incisions, surgeons need only small openings for the endoscope to see inside the body.

But the very characteristic which makes this procedure so desirable is also its undoing. Every tool used in an operation must undergo a thorough cleaning and sterilization by hospital staff before it can be used again. A proper cleaning is critical to ensuring infection and disease is not spread from one patient to the next. Traditional surgical tools were relatively simple to clean, but the narrow devices used in minimally invasive surgery today are much more complicated.

Shocking Findings Revealed

A 2009 investigation by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) revealed widespread failure to properly clean at least one minimally invasive surgical device—the anthroscopic shaver. This device is used in certain orthopedic surgical procedures to shave away bone and tissue. Upon close inspection of several purportedly clean shavers, investigators discovered actual pieces of human bone and tissue lodged in hard to reach places within many devices. Each time these filthy devices are used patients are exposed to dangerous disease and infection.

For one patient in Texas, the risk of exposure was all too real. John Harrison entered the hospital expecting to undergo routine rotator cuff surgery on his right shoulder. One operation and seven follow-up procedures later, John can barely lift his arm. It is believed an improperly cleaned device used by John's surgeons infected him. When he returned to the hospital for an emergency checkup, doctors found the infection had deteriorated part of his shoulder bone and rotator cuff, and allowed the metal hardware inside to pull loose.

The blame for failing to clean minimally invasive surgical instruments lies with hospitals. Staff employed by hospitals to sterilize these devices are typically underpaid and overworked. The demand for quickly cleaned tools is unprecedented. It is no wonder so many instruments are found to contain remnants from previous operations. It raises serious concerns about the procedures in place for the proper reprocessing of reusable minimally invasive instruments in Colorado hospitals.

Consult Trusted Medical Malpractice Lawyers

If you or a loved one is exposed to terrible disease or infection, it may be the result of improperly cleaned surgical instruments used in your procedure. Contact the personal injury and medical malpractice attorneys at Paulsen & Armitage, LLC to learn more.