Detroit Medical Center is trying work out of a public relations nightmare that has raised questions about its care.
Michigan regulators and the hospital group agreed Friday to have outside experts monitor the hospital system’s cleaning of surgical tools. Karen Bouffard and Joel Kurth of the The Detroit News report:
Under the agreement, an infection control and sterilization consultant will “validate” that DMC’s surgical instruments are clean and file reports with the state Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA) every 10 days on the system’s progress in correcting violations discovered during recent inspections. The DMC will pay for the consultant.
The action comes two weeks after state inspectors found the hospital in violation of the state health code because of lax training. The state’s investigation was prompted by a Detroit News series that documented 11 years of complaints about dirty, broken and missing instruments. The issues complicated operations including brain surgeries, heart repairs and spinal fusions, kept patients under anesthesia unnecessarily and led to cancellations of dozens of operations.
