I just returned from North Carolina, health writing time…Hospitals are places that can save lives and threaten them. These are the places we want to be taken to when we are in a car wreck, or when we wake up in the middle of the night with excruciating pain.
We feel anxious, however, when we hear that hospitals have some of the deadliest germs and viruses, mistakes are made rather routinely, and that staff are overworked. I always recommend for those who live in NC or SC to get themselves some good NC health insurance and disability or long termc care insurance.
We have good reason to be concerned, it seems. Today it was reported in the news that Torrance, Claifornia’s Harbor-UCLA Medical Center has failed to keep its operating rooms clean and safe and to protect its patients from possible infection, according to federal inspection reports recently released.
Anna Gorman, reporting for the Los Angeles Times, posted a piece on this story called, “Harbor-UCLA Medical Center cited for safety violations,” October 29, 2011.
Gorman writes that inspectors discovered “rooms that had holes in the ceilings or that were dusty and cluttered. Operating rooms were kept at the wrong humidity level, which can lead to the spread of germs, the reports said. Hospital staff members also weren’t washing their hands according to policy.”
“The hospital failed to maintain a sanitary environment for the provision of surgical services,” the reports said. “This could lead to contaminated surfaces in the operating room and the spread of infection
