Unsterilized Tools Used in Surgeries
SAN DIEGO — A nurse who failed to properly clean surgical instruments may have exposed nearly 300 patients to hepatitis or HIV, officials said Wednesday.
Scripps Memorial Hospital officials said the patients, who all underwent stomach-reduction surgery, had a very low risk of infection because the tools had been washed and rinsed but not chemically sterilized.
The nurse, whose name was not released, knowingly violated operating room procedures, said Scripps spokesman Don Stanziano.
The nurse worked at Scripps from September 2004 until last month, when she resigned after hospital officials confronted her.
“This employee was aware of the procedures and chose not to follow them, which ... we do not tolerate,” Stanziano said.
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