Unsterilized Instruments Used at Minneapolis Hospitals

In November 2014, KARE 11 News reported that 100 patients

of the University of Minnesota Medical Center Colon and Rectal Clinic had been exposed to unsterilized instruments. This report follows an earlier report that four patients at Abbott Northwestern Hospital had been exposed to unsterilized instruments. Apparently those patients have been notified and will have laboratory testing done to verify whether the they have developed any infections as a result of these events.

Hospital-acquired infections already plague our hospital systems, and the failure to properly sterilize instruments used for invasive procedures can only add to the problem. Let's hope that the hospital administration's assurances that the risk of

infection from these recent incidents is extremely low.