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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: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Friday March 02 2018, @02:07PM (3 children)
Yes. There is a risk. Aside from the question of what concentration bleach and was it enough to kill endospores, if the catheters were not certified for sterilization and did begin to deterioriate as the study suggests, you could have micropockets form in the material which would provide a safe harbor for endospores that never get the bleach contact. Think cutting boards [ncsu.edu], only the cutting was done by chemicals.
That's why reusable medical grade tools that are invasive must (very generally) be autoclavable. Or have gone through testing which proves that a given disinfecting procedure will kill pathogens. Not just trust "wash it up and it'll be OK because I'm a Doctor and I say so."
If this were a zombie apocalypse, would you be able to follow procedures like that in order to keep your tools available for another patient? OK, fine. Are we in a zombie apocalypse? No? Then what you have here is a physician who cut corners on safety to put money in his pocket. Delicense him, or give him the hardest reprimand possible and let the insurances desert him.
This sig for rent.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday March 02 2018, @02:24PM (2 children)
Let me ask again: " is there a quantifiable risk to patients?"
Should I bold it next time?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Friday March 02 2018, @03:42PM
And let me say it again: A risk exists, until it is proven not to be. That's the way medicine is done.
This sig for rent.
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Friday March 02 2018, @03:45PM
And for dessert: The guy was reusing equipment certified for single-use only. That is more than enough reason for censure, whatever the environment is. You might not like the costs. But you'd like getting CDIFF, entirely preventable if the rules were followed, even less.
This sig for rent.