RE: Alert for GB surgery patients from Scripps Hospital in LaJolla

[Guest guest]

The hospital Pacific Bariatric uses is Scripps Mercy in San Diego. The hospital mentioned in the article is not the one Pacific Bariatrics uses. Thankfully!

Stacey

From: gastric-bypass-support-kaiser-patients [mailto:gastric-bypass-support-kaiser-patients ] On Behalf Of etteSent: Wednesday, May 03, 2006 5:06 PMTo: gastric-bypass-support-kaiser-patients Subject: Alert for GB surgery patients from Scripps Hospital in LaJolla

Haven't posted for a while, but saw this article. Thought Kaiser had referred patients to Pacific Bariatric and they had their GB surgery at Scripps. Based on the article, I hope not:Bariatric patients may be infected: Scripps reporting sterilization concernBy Cheryl , UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER, May 3, 2006 Nearly 300 people who had stomach-reduction procedures at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla may have been infected with hepatitis or HIV because improperly sterilized instruments were used during their surgeries. The problem, which occurred between Sept. 21, 2004, and April 10, has prompted state health officials to launch an investigation."We take this very seriously," said Lea , spokeswoman for the Department of Health Services in Sacramento. "This is an unusual occurrence. We want to know how it happened and how it is being handled."Scripps officials said they learned April 11 from a staff member that a nurse was not putting certain instruments through a third decontamination involving a chemical bath. The instruments, called gyroscopes, help surgeons look inside the stomach.The nurse was only using a two-step process involving an enzyme detergent and alcohol, said Dr. Alan Wittgrove, director of Scripps' Wittgrove Bariatric Center, which moved from Alvarado Hospital to Scripps around that time.Scripps officials reported the problem to state and federal officials April 14. Nearly two weeks later, hospital staff members started notifying patients by phone and mail and offering them blood tests, which will take several weeks to complete.It took 15 days to gather the list of patients, said Dr. Dana Launer, Scripps Memorial's chief of staff, and Fybel, the hospital's chief executive. The hospital has contacted 200 of the 299 patients, and Wittgrove said he spoke with 100 of them.Launer and Fybel said they were disappointed that news of the problem leaked out late Monday."It would have been our wish to finish notifying our patients first, so they didn't find out about this by the news media," Launer said. "Our concern is in not creating too much anxiety for our patients and assuring them that hopefully, their test results will be negative."Infectious disease experts told Scripps officials that there is no chance any patient was infected with a bacteria and that the chance of infection with a virus is extremely low, Launer and Fybel said."The likelihood is that (the use of alcohol) wiped out all the viral problems," Launer said. With respect to HIV and hepatitis infection, he said, "We're talking about theoretical possibilities."