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This is UNACCEPTABLE: Goshen Hospital


Coach Nowlin

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https://www.wthr.com/article/indiana-hospital-we-failed-disinfect-surgical-tools 

 

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GOSHEN, Ind. (AP) — A northern Indiana hospital has alerted more than 1,000 surgery patients who may have been exposed to hepatitis, HIV and other infectious diseases due to a sterilization failure.

Goshen Hospital leaders said in a letter to patients that between April 1 and Sept. 30 a sterilization technician failed to complete one crucial step in the sterilizing process of surgical equipment.

 

 

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On 11/21/2019 at 3:25 PM, Bobref said:

First, let’s find out if anyone actually got sick as a result. Just like in officiating: “No harm, no foul.”

Bob, what's the situation in Indiana these days with the "infliction of mental harm" -type torts? It's not an area of law I've had reason to keep up on, but I do seem to recall that our courts were consistently chipping away at some of the limits related to needing a contemporaneous or related physical harm. 

Is there room for a lawyer to make a good faith argument that the mental trauma and fear from learning you were operated on with "unclean" instruments is itself a recognizable (compensible) injury? 

I am thinking of the colonoscopy patient who has just learned that the scope that was stuck way up in his nether regions was not sterilized after being way up the hinie of some other patient before him. That would sure make me "sick"!

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15 minutes ago, Wabash82 said:

Bob, what's the situation in Indiana these days with the "infliction of mental harm" -type torts? It's not an area of law I've had reason to keep up on, but I do seem to recall that our courts were consistently chipping away at some of the limits related to needing a contemporaneous or related physical harm. 

Is there room for a lawyer to make a good faith argument that the mental trauma and fear from learning you were operated on with "unclean" instruments is itself a recognizable (compensible) injury? 

I am thinking of the colonoscopy patient who has just learned that the scope that was stuck way up in his nether regions was not sterilized after being way up the hinie of some other patient before him. That would sure make me "sick"!

You’re talking about what has generally been characterized as “negligent infliction of emotional distress,” which was, traditionally, subject to the “impact rule.” Here’s something of a summary of the development of the rule ... and it’s exceptions. https://www.theindianalawyer.com/articles/29650-negligent-infliction-of-emotional-distress

Here, I have no doubt that there’s a sufficient “impact” in the application of potentially unsterilized instrumentation to the patient’s body. The question becomes whether that is an impact that is objectively likely to cause emotional distress. The “distress” is the product of fear of infection. The incubation period of most infections is measured in days, not weeks or months. So, I think it’s highly unlikely a court would find that fear of infection from an inadequately sterilized instrument — that took place 6 months ago — would be objectively reasonable. 

Having said that, this is a pretty murky area. 

Now, if you have a patient who actually developed a nosocomial infection, i.e., hospital acquired, in connection with a procedure, that’s a whole different ballgame. But still very hard to prove. My opinion is that Goshen Hospital has more exposure of a regulatory nature, than from civil liability.
 

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