Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Surgeon's infected hands led to staph outbreak at presitigious Cedars of Lebanon Hospital, California



At a hospital that had participated in a research project and campaign to trace the causes and then reduce in-hospital-acquired infections during the last year or so, five patients have recently been infected by an unfocussed surgeon.  See the story at the link above, "You have to think twice about surgery in an American hospital, which produce 2 million infections each year." The final paragraph of the cited news report by CBS Minnesota / AP says, "The hospitals involved were Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles; Cleveland Clinic in Ohio; Mayo Clinic-Rochester Methodist Hospital in Rochester, Minn.; North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System in Great Neck, NY; Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago; OSF Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria, Ill.; and Stanford Hospital & Clinics in Palo Alto, Calif."  Even so, as the law firms that used to be called "ambulance chasers" are already urgently advertizing for people who want to particpate in law suits against Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre, it remains a very good hospital.  It takes only one careless or deviant surgeon to bring down the reputation of an otherwise excellent hospital, by all accounts but today's.


-- Albert Gedraitis

NBC Southern California (Dec10,2k12)


Five patients at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center became 

infected after a heart surgeon operated 

with an inflammation on his hands

by Sharon Bernstein
|  Monday, Dec 10, 2012  |  Updated 12:06 PM PST
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Surgeon's Infected Hands Caused Staph Outbreak
Five heart patients at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center contracted staph infections after a doctor 
operated on them with bacteria on his hands, the hospital said this week.
The doctor, whom the hospital declined to name, had an inflammation on his hand when he implanted replacement heart valves into five patients last June.
He wore gloves, but they developed microscopic tears, the hospital said, causing the infection to pass to patients.
All five became infected with the staphylococcus epidermidis bacteria, the hospital said.
“We have apologized to the patients involved, worked diligently to answer any questions they have, and provided appropriate follow-up, support and monitoring,” a spokesman for the hospital said in a statement Sunday.
The physician involved remains on the hospital’s medical staff, but is no longer performing surgeries, the hospital said.
Hospital officials are refusing to release any more information about the case, or to provide historical details on infections at the storied medical center.

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