Hospital warns patients of disease exposure
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — University Hospital has notified 53 neurosurgery patients that they are at "extremely low" risk of contracting a deadly brain disorder because of possible exposure to contaminated surgical instruments.
The surgical tools were used on a woman who died Tuesday of the brain disorder, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. All the patients had surgery when the instruments were still in use. The hospital stopped using them when tests confirmed the woman's diagnosis.
UW Hospital chief medical officer, Dr. Carl Getto, says the instruments were sterilized, but that experts believe that's not enough to destroy contamination.
CJD symptoms include rapidly progressing dementia, with death often coming within a year.
Jul 25, 2009 at 9:02 p.m.
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OMG! is all I can say. I think I would rather not know.....prayers to you all!
Jul 25, 2009 at 5:49 p.m.
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Wow. These patients can now sweat it out for 10 to 20 years, which is the incubation period for this disease, as there is no test to diagnose until symptoms manifest. Nice going UW.
Jul 25, 2009 at 3:47 p.m.
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I don't consider any mortal omniscient. I absolutely expect doctors, of all people, to intelligently use the knowledge they DO have!
Jul 25, 2009 at 3:44 p.m.
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If we know existing sterilization procedures are inadequate for known diseases, then we should either come up with better procedures, consider the instruments disposable, or AT THE VERY LEAST,inform patients - prior to surgery - of preventable risks they'll be subjected to. Everyone's entitled to their own opinion, but I can't see that as too much to ask for,considering the ever-escalating costs of medical care!
Jul 24, 2009 at 4:19 p.m.
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"Idiotic fumble"? Where do some people get the idea that doctors are ominiscent? Really folks, they are not perfect, they are not all knowing and seeing, they are just people who have full, hectic schedules.
Jul 24, 2009 at 2:15 p.m.
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There is no specific test for CJD - it is generally diagnosed on autopsy. The hospital did not have any idea this woman was suffering from CJD until right before her death and apparently her surgery was in early June. This is not "an idiotic fumble...forseeable by anyone who can read or write". Tragic, yes, for both the woman who died from CJD and now for the other families who will worry; but NOT forseeable.
Jul 24, 2009 at 1:55 p.m.
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To us peons (middle-class taxpayers), the UW & UW Hospital are supposed to represent the "Pride of Wisconsin". Along comes this idiotic fumble that should have been forseeable by ANYONE who can read & write, but we're supposed to be bowing to their superior intellect on matters of life & death? Maybe they need their own Obama-appointed czar to straighten the place out & kick the right butts!
Jul 24, 2009 at 1:25 p.m.
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Another perfect example of Mercy's treatment of patients that't why I will only go to Madison........ Oh wait, never mind.
Jul 24, 2009 at 12:47 p.m.
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gpawcat, it's probably more correct to say a disease of the same type rather than a variant. Classic CJD existed in humans long before mad cow became a problem. New variant CJD is theoretically assumed to be a transmission of mad cow to humans causing similar symptoms. All are prion diseases, though.
Jul 24, 2009 at 11:59 a.m.
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A variant of mad cow disease.
Jul 24, 2009 at 11:50 a.m.
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Shouldn't they have stopped using the instruments when CJD was first suspected, rather than waiting for the test results? They could certainly have reused them once the test was completed if CJD was ruled out.
Jul 24, 2009 at 11:44 a.m.
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horrible
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