1,800-plus surgery patients warned of infection risk

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1,800-plus surgery patients warned of infection risk

By Dann Denny October 3, 2007

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BLOOMINGTON — The Bloomington Surgery Center is offering free testing to more than 1,800 patients who may have been infected with a disease while undergoing surgery at the center between February 2004 and May 2006. Testing for hepatitis C, hepatitis B and HIV are being offered at no charge at Internal Medicine Associates’ laboratory in Bloomington. IMA spokesman Dave Burnworth said IMA will bill the Bloomington Surgery Center, which has agreed to pay for the tests. “So far, we’ve run about 35 to 40 tests,” Burnworth said. Kinzler, spokeswoman for the Bloomington Surgery Center, said, “The testing is available free of charge. Patients don’t even need to make an appointment. A walk-in is OK.” She said patients don’t need a referral from their primary care physician if they had surgery at the center during those dates. A review of cases for 1,880 patients who had surgery at the center during the 27-month period was triggered by an Indiana State Department of Health finding last year that an anesthesiologist at the center had used the same syringe on multiple patients. That technique is not accepted by the state because of the risk of spreading diseases such as hepatitis C, hepatitis B or HIV. Two of the 1,880 patients were reported to the state health board as having hepatitis C following surgery at Bloomington Surgery Center, according to a letter sent two weeks ago to the patients’ physicians by Dr. Webb, head of infectious diseases for Clarian Health in Indianapolis. But he also wrote that it was unlikely that the two cases resulted from their surgeries at the center.

http://www.tmnews.com/stories/2007/10/03/news.nw-430562.tms