Originally published June 19 2005
Doctors accidentally use surgical tools washed in hydraulic fluid
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Newsday.com reports nearly 4,000 patients at two North Carolina hospitals were worked on by doctors who were unwittingly using tools washed in hydraulic fluid, after elevator maintenance workers drained the fluid into empty soap containers without changing labels.
Doctors at two North Carolina hospitals unwittingly used surgical instruments that were cleaned with hydraulic fluid instead of detergent, a mistake that affected nearly 4,000 patients.
Toward the end of last year, elevator workers at Duke Health Raleigh Hospital and Durham Regional Hospital drained hydraulic fluid into empty soap containers and capped them without changing the labels.
Since the problem became public, at least one patient has sued the elevator company, complaining of severe infection, temporary loss of kidney functions and other ailments.
Both hospitals have created plans to prevent such problems in the future, said a spokeswoman for Duke University Health System, which owns the two hospitals.
Before her operation, she did research to find the best surgeon close to her home in Raleigh.
But she said her recovery has been slow, and she wonders whether the hydraulic fluid might be a factor.
A report by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said the hospitals' errors put patients in "immediate jeopardy."
But state investigators -- while citing the hospitals and the elevator company for mistakes that created the confusion, including poor communication and improper labeling of chemicals -- did not consider the problem serious, said spokeswoman Heather Crews of the state Labor Department.
"It should be pretty easy to see when you start to wash something that detergent is different from hydraulic fluid," said Dr. Michael Grodin, director of medical ethics at the Boston University School of Medicine.
In studies, rabbits that inhaled the fluid had trouble breathing and other animals experienced nervous-system tremors and well as diarrhea and breathing problems.
Duke has struggled with patient safety issues since February 2003, when a surgeon accidentally transplanted a heart and lungs of the wrong blood type into 17-year-old Jessica Santillan.
She received a second transplant but soon died.
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