Hospital Acquired Infections: A Serious Threat to Patient Safety

Recent reports that surgery patients at Cape Cod Hospital and Manchester NH's Catholic Medical Center were potentially exposed to the fatal brain disease Creutzfeldt-Jakob from a contaminated surgical instrument shed light on just one of the many dangers patients face when undergoing medical procedures in hospital settings.

"Instrument sterilization is a fundamental expectation of any patient undergoing a surgical procedure," said medical malpractice attorney Andrew C. Meyer, Jr. "That specialized instruments are reused and cannot be fully sterilized is of great concern."

In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that the roughly 1.7 million hospital-associated infections result in nearly 100,000 deaths a year. Every facility should have appropriate infection prevention policies and procedures in place to allow healthcare personnel to provide safe and reliable medical care to each and every patient.  

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