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Colon and rectal surgeon Sanjiv Patankar allegedly washed and reused catheters that are inserted into patients' rectum during medical procedures. The instruments, which are used to examine patients with fecal incontinence, constipation, and other possible disorders, are supposed to be thrown away after a single use.
Patankar, who practiced in East Brunswick, [New Jersey] allegedly instructed medical assistants to wash the instruments in soapy water after use, soak them in bleach solutions, and then rinse before air-drying them. The doctor also reportedly ordered to continue using a catheter that has started to break down due to overbleaching.
In a hearing conducted Dec. 19, the state said that documented evidence appears to show that between Jan. 1 and Nov. 30, Patankar's office performed 82 procedures but only five catheters were used over that period.
(Score: 5, Informative) by AthanasiusKircher on Thursday March 01 2018, @02:12PM (3 children)
A couple potential issues, even if we buy a "saving the environment" motivation.
(1) Sterilization procedures require thorough testing in medicine. A quick search shows a lot of articles in medical journals on catheter sterilization, including more expensive rectal devices that may need reuse. Did the doctor follow an empirically verified sterilization procedure?
(2) Apparently he did this with catheters specifically labeled as "single-use" with "DO NOT RE-USE" on the packaging. Medical devices intended for re-use are generally built to be more sturdy and to hold up to things like repeated sterilization procedures. Perhaps more importantly, a single-use device may be made in such a way that it cannot be sterilized effectively using normal sterilization procedures (e.g., made out of a more porous plastic that can trap bacteria in places that are difficult to sterilize, etc.).
Bottom line is that there are procedures and devices that are tested to ensure safety when they are reused. This doctor was at a minimum using devices not intended to be used this way, which could have risks.
I don't know enough about the situation to know how risky it might be though...
(Score: 1, Redundant) by c0lo on Thursday March 01 2018, @02:25PM
As TFA says he wasn't charged of any damage to patients even after the Attorney General office was involved. I musy assume that he himself empirically verified the sterilization procedure and followed it, no? (grin)
TFA says that's the maximum as well:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 4, Informative) by mhajicek on Thursday March 01 2018, @03:14PM
I make medical devices (machinist and designer for medical device company), and you are correct. When possible devices are multi use. When use degrades a device too much for it to be safely and reliably reused it must be single use.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Thursday March 01 2018, @04:21PM
Bottom line: the doctor used his M.D. judgement and made a call which resulted in an outrageous story headline - regardless of his medical acumen, he obviously is out of touch with what society will (try to) do to him after the story gets around, or maybe this is his way of seeking his 15 minutes of fame - who knows.
M.D.s use devices off-label all the time, but re-use of labeled single-use devices is one that most hospital legal departments will frown upon, heavily. The only thing that Sanjiv could possibly have been attempting to do with this off-label re-use is to save a little money - now, if he went full disclosure with his patients and gave them two-tier pricing options... maybe, just maybe that might fly, but I've never met an M.D. that's this forthcoming with patients about the choices that the M.D. makes in their care.
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