Unbelievable Surgical Practice in this day and age

So, I had lunch w my son at my mom's house and then left my son over there to play so I could get some rest and on the way home I stopped at a gas station. Happened to glance at a local newspaper on the way out and saw a headline that grabbed my attention right away.

It read something like "Patients from White Rose Surgical Practice Sent Letters Telling them to get tested for HIV and Hepatitis"

So I read the first page of it. The whole time knowing that MAY have been the place my husband got a growth on his neck removed a couple years back. I'm still not sure and he's sleeping but I'm going to ask him when he wakes up. (I'm not worried though about him anyways even if so because as most of you know, I'm pregnant and this surgery he had was a couple yrs ago and I've been tested since BUT...)--- the whole thing really makes me mad and shocked when I went on to read the details.

It said that this practice, that often does things like remove moles and growths, etc.- was taking a CLEAN syringe and dipping it in the anesthesia and all was good so far. But then they were taking the SAME syringe and dipping it back in the same bottle if the patient needed anymore anesthesia and THEN (get this part!!!)-- then they were reusing the same bottles of anesthesia for the next patient. So, basically there would be a half full bottle that was already used and dipped into more than once (dirty syringe for second dip) and if there was any left, they'd use same bottle w clean syringe for next patient. Therefore that would not be clean at all. Obviously. So they were cited for it and sent letters to everyone who had surgery during a certain time... but the reason it makes me mad, other than the fact that I'm fairly sure hubby DID have surgery thru them (although I'm not worried), is that any idiot should know you don't do that. You don't dip a used syringe in something and then consider the container of the liquid save to use for another person. Seriously? Who doesn't know that? You don't have to be an iv drug user or a doctor to know that. Any idiot could figure that out.

It's surprising to me that stuff like that goes on now... in this day and age. Shocking.


(I was debating putting this in the health section but wanted it to get some read/traffic. If a mod later on after some people read it thinks it should be moved, doesn't matter to me.)

 

It does sound like very sloppy practice.

Maybe though the anaesthetic they use might have anti-bacterial properties. I really don't know. Even if it had, that still wouldn't make this acceptable.
If you've been tested though you're probably OK. But I can understand why you'd be concerned.

If you're worried why not ask to be tested again.

 

I have no idea if the anesthetic has anti-bacterial properties but still totally ridiculous.

The more I think about it the more I think since any idiot WOULD know this is an unsafe practice, they had to know this was not good and did it anyways. Wonder why? To save a little money?

Anyways, no, really not worried about myself. First thing is I'm going to ask hubby when he wakes up in like an hour if that was the place he got the removal done through because I'm not even sure of that. I'm thinking maybe it is, maybe it isn't.

And then also even if it was... he maybe didn't get an old bottle of anesthesia and even if he did that's not to say it was infected. I mean most likely it wouldn't have been infected. Most people don't have these illnesses. But still.

Really though if I find out that WAS the place he went to I'd tell him to get tested if he wants just in case I'm one of those lucky people who don't catch certain things. (not very likely but possible). But for me... not worried at all because my tests were in the last couple months and this was two years ago.

I think it's more just the whole... idea... that a place would be that lazy or whatever and neglectful (for lack of a better word)...and since I just had a mole removed recently (from a different place!!) and have two more I want removed after this baby is born...makes me hope these kind of practices aren't widespread. Makes me wonder.

 

I just don't know what would make these people so neglectful. It could be as you say - to save money, or maybe they're just taking shortcuts.

In this country the healthcare system is different from America. The profit motive isn't there in our NHS. They also have clinical guidelines they're supposed to stick to. There must be similar guidelines and regulations in the US.
I had some minor surgery to remove a cyst a few years ago, and I noticed the Doctor used a single dose ampule of anaesthetic. He then binned that, and after injecting me, binned the syringe and needle. I felt confident that all was done just right, and I healed up quickly with no problems.

If your husband did use that place, I would advise a test, as there are some things you can get like that which are easier treated early on. He's very likely ok, but it's better to be cautious with things like that.

 

http://www.ydr.com/local/ci_2585504...-associates-reports-local-anesthetic-possibly

 

edit: after reading the article about the practice, it looks like they they were just lax about proceedures

 

http://www.ydr.com/local/ci_2585504...-associates-reports-local-anesthetic-possibly

"We certainly would never do anything intentional to harm our patients," Scott said. "We want to walk each of them through the process to reassure them they are our first priority."

 

It's all about the $. Lots of vials in the anesthesiologist's tray are multi dose. They want to be able to charge for as many doses as possible before throwing that vial away.

A lot of vials go from patient to patient, and it's pretty much just the honors system making sure the doc opened a new syringe and needle before reentering the vial.

Scary stuff.

 

And they pay 10's of thousand of dollars to go to school for this shit and they didn't think they were doing anything wrong?.. and there's all this lobbying for legislation aiming to cap medical lawsuits because " thats whats driving up the costs for everyone"...pfft, I say these people get caught fucking up on purpose, send them to fucking prison! or ban them from practice for life at least!

 

Some good comments everyone. And thanks for finding the article.

Yea, that quote cracks me up. "We would never do anything intentional to harm our patients...blah blah blah blah bullshit is right"

Anyways, I did find out that the place my husband went to had a very similar name to that place but it was a different place. So that's good.

But really makes me think when I go after I have this baby to get two more moles removed and tested that I wanna be watching what they do with the vials, etc.

 

Being an informed and observant consumer is wise, although there is always someone out there who will say that the corporation should be blessed with the sole right of determining which information, if any, should be disclosed to the consumer.

 

Yes, doubling dipping into someone's vein or skin w some vial and then using that vial on another patient is just being lax about procedures. And so is not sterilizing equipment including equipment used for colon procedures.




Just read full article online and saw letter they sent people and I'd be freaking mad as hell if I got a letter like that in the mail. Lol. Seriously.
Then something popped up on the bottom of the screen from that newspaper saying in today's paper is something about how today that facility is being bombarded with phone calls about it. hah.