Posted on 10/27/2008 1:19:02 PM PDT by Nachum
HIGH PRAIRIE, Alta. — About 2,700 patients — including hundreds of children — need to be tested for HIV and hepatitis because a handful of hospital staff in a northern Alberta farming community administered drugs with dirty syringes for nearly two decades.
Health officials said Monday they want to perform blood tests on 1,300 patients who had endoscopy procedures at the High Prairie Health Complex over four years dating back to March 2004.
Officials said fewer than five staffers were routinely injecting pain killers into intravenous lines with syringes that had already been used in lines attached to other patients.
Up to 1,400 patients who had dental surgeries at the same hospital dating back to 1990 also need to be tested, said Dr. Albert de Villiers, medical officer of health for the region, told a news conference.
“We are assuming at this point that a large number of them will be children because it’s more children that get dental surgery.”
He said no infections have been found and the risk of infection is very low, but added: “It is not an acceptable practice that we have identified and that’s why we stopped the practice.”
The problem was discovered earlier this month by a manager who observed the use of a dirty syringe. De Villiers said it took three weeks to sort out which patients may have been infected and whether blood testing was required.
Patients will be contacted by phone and registered mail for blood testing, which will be co-ordinated by Alberta Health.
“It might be tricky to track down all the patients,” said de Villiers. “We will try our best.”
Robin Laughlin, a physician who does most of the endoscopies in the town and has worked in the region for 35 years, said he was told a week ago.
“My reaction was surprise and disappointment. I didn’t know it was happening.”
Laughlin said he doesn’t know why the syringes were re-used or what happened to the quality control. “That’s obviously one of the questions that has to be answered.”
In endoscopy, a fibreglass scope is inserted into a patient’s bowel or stomach and beams back video images to scan for cancers, colitis and digestive problems.
Prior to the procedure, the patient is sedated by a syringe inserted into the top of an intravenous line.
Alberta’s Quality Health Council is investigating, but hospital staff were reportedly reluctant to answer questions.
“We’re talking about a group of staff isolated in one department in the facility,” said Tim Guest, a vice-president for the local health region.
“It’s not widespread in the entire facility. (It’s) a very small number of employees — less than five.”
Health Minister Ron Liepert said he suspects human error is the root cause, but said the investigation will not focus on laying blame
“We have a health system that is made up of hundreds of thousands of people. They’re all human beings. There will be mistakes that will be made,” said Liepert.
“As soon as we start pointing fingers or wanting to lay blame, people are not going to want to co-operate.”
The minister also said there’s no indication that the practice of using a syringe on more than one patient is happening at other Alberta health facilities.
High Prairie, located on the west end of Lesser Slave Lake, has a population of 3,000, but administers to 17,000 in its service area.
It is a regional centre serving a mixed farming, forestry and oil and gas community.
This is the second incident involving poor sterilization procedures at an Alberta hospital in recent years.
In early 2007, poor sterilization techniques and the outbreak of a superbug forced 3,000 patients from St. Joseph’s Hospital in Vegreville, Alta., to be tested for infection.
The 25-bed hospital was closed for several weeks after instruments were recirculated with flecks of blood and dead tissue on them.
A class-action lawsuit has since been filed, claiming the hospital failed to ensure the instruments were properly cleaned.
The opposition parties said Premier Ed Stelmach’s government has failed to enforce heightened standards for infection prevention promised after the Vegreville outbreak.
“Imagine one of these blood-borne infections infecting someone,” said Liberal legislature member David Swann.
“These are life-threatening illnesses. It’s totally unacceptable, ”
NDP Leader Brian Mason said, “This government spends more money to educate drug addicts about not re-using syringes than they do for health professionals.
“This is simply appalling and could happen again”.
— By Jim Macdonald and Dean Bennett in Edmonton
This too awaits you under the Obamanation’s coming universal health care plan. By “universal”, they mean that syringes will be “univerally shared”.
This is what happens under socialized medicine.
If not, it probably will become standard procedure under universal healthcare!
Sort of like the new born babies that became infected with 'pseudomonas' (Canadian Government Health Care) because the drains where they washed the infants were never disinfected.
A farming community out in the boondocks. Well at least no one important could have been infected, huh Barry?
Ah, the joys of Socialized Medicine!
When the government pays the bills, the regulators and the cost-cutters are the same people. When that happens, the cost-cutters win, every time.
For an extreme example, look at China’s famous “Barefoot Doctor” program. These idiot went from village to village injecting people with useless and dangerous adulturated vitamin concoctions using the same syringe, over and over again. Sure the initial costs were low, but the outbreak of HIV and Hepatitis was not.
I remember, back in the Good Ol’ Days before HIV, I went to the International Airport in New Delhi, India for a live-virus innoculation for Yellow Fever. The 20 dose vial had to be expended once it was open, so there were 20 people standing in line, waiting for a shot.
The doctor flipped the plastic stopper off the top of the bottle, dipped in the needle, withdrew the medicine, and injected the first guy in line. He then proceeded to use the same needle and syringe to inject the next ten people in line, before he came to me.
He took one look at my white skin and my US Passport and calmly took the needle off the syringe, put on a new one, gave me my shot, and proceeded down the line.
Such were the Good Ol’ Days!
Another sterling example of National Health.
But.. But... National Health will be free to all. Lord Obama promised.
Compliments of socialized medicine.
Correct that it isn't okay, unless in an extreme emergency...i.e Obama's ATF has your compound surrounded, and your med supplies are running low. ;-)
Depends on if they were using an injection port near the IV bag, or one near the insertion site; and on whether the line was changed recently or not; and whether it was was flushed properly since last injection.
The more "no's" and the closer to the insertion site, the higher the risk becomes. At the cost of disposable needles & syringes, there's no excuse.
There is also the risk of contaminating a multi-does vial, if that was what they were drawing the meds from, with other nasties as well.
No excuse.
Born in Alberta 1946... parents moved to the states in 1955, Naturalized in 1964. Most of my family are still in Alberta.
A socialized medical system such as Canada’s will fail or ration... one or the other.
It’s coming to America if “The One” gets in.
Just do a google on reused syringes. There was a Las Vegas clinic reusing syringes that made the news earlier this year. Other docs and clinics have done it as well...
Link to one of the articles — http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23421922/
Did I mention that I was young and stupid?
God forfend you actually educate health professionals who work for your hospital on your own! NO! There has to be a GOVERNMENT PROGRAM. These people are sick with socialism and convinced that more socialism is the only cure.
Also like the part about the unwillingness of the hospital staff to talk to investigators, and the “no pointing fingers of blame” assurances.
Who, in this modern world, is so mind numbingly STUPID that they re-use needles, and think they need a government program to tell them not to?
If they want to reuse syringes just send them down here to Texas so we can use them for lethal injections.
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