Open Heart Surgery Patients Exposed To Dangerous Bacteria, Pasadena Hospital Warns
The risk of getting an infection from the device is very low, and local officials said Friday that they had not yet found a patient who was sickened.
Los Angeles Times:
Pasadena Heart Surgery Patients Warned Of Possible Infections
Pasadena’s Huntington Hospital has sent letters to all patients having open heart surgery in the last four years warning them that they may have been infected with a dangerous bacteria. The hospital is one of many across the country using a device that has been linked to dozens of infections in heart surgery patients, including some who died. Federal health officials have estimated that the risk of getting an infection from the device is very low — between about 1 in 100 and 1 in 1,000. (Petersen, 1/13)