Illinois women, Janice McCall, 65, died six days after a fire broke out while she was having surgery. She was undoing surgery at the University Medical Center in Nashville, TN. It is unclear what she was having surgery for, but on September 8th she finally passed away. The Tennessee state medical examiners office said that she died of complications from thermal burns, but classified the death as accidental. Approximately 550 to 600 fires occur in operating rooms due to a spark being set off by an electric surgical tool, as oxygen builds up under the surgical drapes. With the replacement of cloth hospital drapes, which are made of a more flammable, disposable synthetic fabric, has increased the instances of fires. The other problem is that surgeons now use more electrosurgical devices with increased technology escalating the instances of fires.
Fox News reported: Heartland Regional Medical Center spokesperson said in a statement only that "there was an accidental flash fire in one of the hospital's operating rooms," injuring a patient before being immediately extinguished. The hospital didn't say how the fire started, but it said, without elaborating, that it was responding with "necessary and appropriate measures."
Doctors have been advocating for years for the practice of delivery of oxygen under drapes to be stopped. It is unclear with so many fires annually, why the head of medical communities have let this practice go on as long as they have. Heartland declined further comments, maintaining the privacy of the family and the HIPPA act, which forbids the public release of patient information.
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