The FDA is taking legal action against a compounding pharmacy after 17 hospital patients acquired infections from contaminated injectable drugs.
In August 2013, Specialty Compounding, LLC, issued a nationwide voluntary recall of all lots of its unexpired sterile products. The recall came after 17 cases of hospital-acquired infection were linked to injectable drug products supplied by the company. Patients were reported to have ...
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According to a 2011 estimate from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 1 in 25 hospitalized patients acquire an infection, and roughly 722,000 hospital-acquired infections result in or contribute to 75,000 deaths each year in the United States. Of these, a substantial portion contribute to the 400,000 or so deaths caused each year by hospital medical errors. According to the CDC,
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The family of a 41-year-old patient who died in January at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center is suing the company responsible for making the duodenoscope that caused the deadly infection. The family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Olympus Corp. in Los Angeles County Superior Court. According to the lawsuit, the patient was exposed to a contaminated Olympus duodenoscope during multiple operations at the end ...
Medicare is cracking down on over 700 U.S. hospitals for having high rates of potentially avoidable infections and injuries, known collectively as “hospital-acquired conditions,” Kaiser Health News reports. These hospitals will all lose one percent of every Medicare payment made for a year. In determining penalties, Medicare looked at the incidence of three types of hospital-acquired conditions: central line–associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs), catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs), ...
Olympus America, maker of the contaminated duodenoscopes allegedly responsible for the recent “superbug” outbreaks at two LA hospitals, has released new cleaning instructions for its product. Olympus sent out the updated guidelines to hospitals on March 26, and is urging customers to begin using them immediately. They call for the use of a smaller cleaning brush and include additional steps to flush out debris and ...
Wash your hands. It’s drilled into our heads almost from the day we’re born – there are few things in life as important as proper hand hygiene.
Went outside to play? Wash your hands. Went to the bathroom? Wash your hands. Getting ready to eat? Wash your hands. Pet the dog? Wash your hands. Touched money? Wash your hands.
What about if you’re getting ready ...
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