Lawsuit alleges duodenoscope cleaning error caused fatal infection

GI tract

2 Oct 2019

The issue of duodenoscope reprocessing has made media headlines with the family of a 55-year woman who died after undergoing routine gallstone surgery sueing the hospital over claims of contamination.

According to an ABC report, the family of Delphine Murphy are taking legal action against the  St John of God Hospital in Bendigo in relation to her death from sepsis and muti-organ failure 12 days after undergoing gallstone surgery in 2016.

Their statement of claim in the Victorian Supreme Court alleges an infection caused by a rare E. coli-related pathogen — Raoultella ornithinolytica — caused the woman’s death from sepsis.

“We are alleging that the hospital failed to properly cleanse the duodenoscope used in her surgery,” the family’s lawyer, Shari Liby from Maurice Blackburn, told the ABC

The lawsuit alleges that Ms Murphy was an otherwise healthy 55 year old woman but died 12 days after what should have been a routine low risk procedure.

They allege that the hospital failed to follow the recommended reprocessing protocol, for the duodenoscope prior to the surgery.

“It was almost 48 hours prior to the procedure that it had been last cleaned,” Ms Liby said.

“The cleaning is only good for 12 hours.”

Higher than expected rates of duodenoscope contamination have been highlighted by regulatory agencies, who have issued safety alerts warning gastroenterologists to closely follow reprocessing instructions.

However the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is now  recommending that gastroenterologists transition away from re-usable to disposable duodenoscopes because of ongoing problems with cleaning to remove pathogens from conventional duodenoscopes.

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