It’s not the most comforting thought for a patient who is scheduled for a hospital visit. A couple of recent studies indicate that seemingly innocuous items in a hospital, like doctors’ and nurses’ clothing or hospital curtains may be teeming with deadly infection-causing bacteria.
It’s not as if Atlanta medical malpractice lawyers are not aware that surfaces can be contaminated in hospitals. However, you don’t expect your doctor’s or a nurses’ uniforms to be covered with MRSA. Yet a study conducted by researchers in Jerusalem found exactly that. They swabbed these uniforms, and analyzed the samples. They found potentially dangerous infection-causing pathogens on more than 60% of the clothing that they tested. Nurses’ uniforms were found to be much more dangerous, with 65% of the uniforms testing positive for pathogens, compared to 60% of doctors’ scrubs.
The researchers are quick to point out that there may be no need to worry, because there is minimal chance of infection from doctors’ or nurses’ clothing. However, considering the unchecked spread of hospital-acquired infections in the country, hospitals need to be setting stricter standards about staff changing uniforms every day, because this seems to reduce the growth of pathogens.
Another study has found that hospital privacy curtains are also breeding grounds for potentially deadly germs. The analysts tested about 43 curtains in 30 hospitals rooms, and found MRSA germs on close to a quarter of all the curtains. They also found other antibiotic-resistant germs including VRE (vancomycin-resistant enterococcus) on 42% of the curtains. When the researchers installed thirteen new curtains in some of the rooms and tested them after a week, they found that twelve of the curtains had now become contaminated.
Robert J. Fleming has been handling wrongful death cases, dental malpractice, bus accidents, car accident cases and premises injury cases for individuals and families who have been harmed, injured or died as a result of the carelessness or negligence of another for more than 20 years. He practices in and around the Atlanta, Georgia area including handling lawsuits in Fulton, DeKalb, Clayton, Gwinnett, Cobb and other counties and nearby cities including Alpharetta, Austell, Avondale Estates, Chamblee, College Park, Conyers, Duluth, Decatur, Doraville, Hapeville, Johns Creek, Jonesboro, Lawrenceville, Norcross, Peachtree City, Riverdale, Roswell, Sandy Springs, Stone Mountain, and Smyrna. If you have been seriously injured by suspected medical malpractice and would like discuss your case, contact Robert J. Fleming directly on (404) 525-5150 or contact us online.