Legal Implications of Sterile Problems at Brooke Army Medical Center: A Personal Injury
Attorney’s Perspective
On June 9, 2023, during an orthopedic surgery at Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC), a bone fragment from a previous surgery was found lodged in a “sterile” medical saw. Over the course of several hours, while the patient remained under anesthesia, the surgical team repeatedly ordered sterile instruments from BAMC’s Sterile Processing Unit. It took them 5 tries before they finally received a set that appeared sterile to the naked eye. The cotanimated surgical tools were contaminated with bioburden, a reddish brown substance on the instruments that is known to be a breeding ground for dangerous infections. This incident and other similar incidents resulted in 19 surgeons signing a memo to BAMC that detailed the problems, explained the risks and articulated how these had resulted in the surgeons reluctance to perform a number of voluntary procedures because of their fear that they would then not have sterile tools for an emergency.
This means that patients requiring some surgeries, like hip replacements and finger reattachment, are having to travel to other hospitals for their treatment. It also means that despite the efforts of the surgical teams to prevent it, it is possible that they may use a contaminated tool during surgery and that their patient may then end up with a deep-seated bone infection leading to a multitude of health problems, including bone disintegration and possibly even death- and the pain, suffering and expense of treating the infection as well.
A healthcare provider owes their patient a duty of care. The standard established for the duty of care owed to a patient is based on the care that an average healthcare provider in the same area of medicine would provide in similar circumstances. So in this case medical malpractice would occur when an orthopedic surgeon at BAMC’s patient treatment was substandard compared to the treatment provided by an orthopedic surgeon at say the Red Duke Trauma Institute in Huston. Without question, the use of surgical tools contaminated by bioburden falls below the established standard of care and therefore is medical malpractice.
A patient who has been harmed by the failure of BAMC to operate a competent Sterile Processing Unit may be entitled to compensation. This failure must not necessarily result in the actual use of the sterile tools- a patient who is kept under anesthesia for an extended time while the surgical team searches for proper tools has been harmed and put at risk. Worse though is the patient whose surgeon’s don’t detect the contamination and who then suffers the lasting consequences of a surgically induced bone or joint infection.
If you or a loved one believe you have been harmed by medical malpractice, first get medical attention and assistance to physically recover from the medical malpractice. Then it is important to document everything, especially interactions with your doctor, and talk over your case with a medical malpractice attorney like those at WithLaw, and collect all of the medical records that you can. A good medical malpractice lawyer like those at WithLaw can assist you by explaining which records and events are important to your case and by assessing your damages and the possibility of recovery.
It is critical that hospitals and doctors be held to the highest possible standard. When reading about the problems with the Sterile Processing Unit at BAMC it was shocking how cavalier the hospital administration was about the problem. Their attitude was clearly that the problems had been discovered by the surgeon, so “no biggie”- when in reality it should have been “we will fix the problem in the Sterile Processing Unit such that doctors aren’t put in the position of assessing the sterility of each medical instrument as they are operating on trauma patients.” Sooner or later- there will be a human error and a patient will be harmed- the risk is simply unacceptable.
Patients must be active in protecting their right to the physicians and healthcare workers duty of care. The right includes not being subjected to contaminated surgical tools, additional hours of anesthesia, surgeons reasonably upset about their operating equipment and theater and dangerous, potentially life threatening and fully preventable infections.
If you believe your rights have been violated, please reach out to WithLaw today- we are here to guide and help you.
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