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North Carolina Personal Injury Lawsuit Sues Suppliers Involved in Tainted-Surgical Instrument Incident At Duke University Health System Hospitals

This week in North Carolina, 67 patients filed a personal injury lawsuit against Cardinal Health and Steris Corp., the companies that supply Duke University Health System hospitals with sterilization equipment. Also named in the lawsuit are a number of Cardinal workers. The lawsuit alleges deceptive trading practices, negligence, conspiracy, and obstruction of justice, and it comes right after Duke Healthy University Health System reached a settlement with patients that claim they were injured because of exposure to the fluid.

The current lawsuit accuses the defendants of trying to cover up their mistakes after some 3,800 surgical patients at Duke Health Raleigh Hospital and Durham Regional Hospital in 2004 were exposed to instruments washed with used hydraulic fluid.

Duke Health officials have said that the instruments had been sterilized after being washed in the fluid and that their findings showed that patients were unlikely to be harmed. A number of patients, however, said they suffered immune system reactions and infections as a result of the exposure.

Although Duke Health isn?t a defendant in this new lawsuit, the plaintiffs are accusing the hospital system of working with the defendants to minimize liability in the case. Duke Health allegedly shared costs with the companies for testing the instruments, conducting the test in a lab connected to Duke, preventing patients from getting more information, and destroying key evidence.

The lawsuit accuses Cardinal workers of failing to check the detergent drums before sending them to the hospital. The hydraulic fluid came from an elevator and was transported to the hospital to be used as detergent. The Steris workers are accused of disregarding complaints of greasy surgical tools and neglecting to check the sterilization equipment at the hospitals.

Hydraulic fluid is often used in equipment, machines, and motor vehicles and has been known to cause health issues in people that have been exposed to it.

If you have suffered health issues because of your exposure to a toxic or hazardous substance, contact our North Carolina personal injury law firm today.

Suit alleges cover-up in tainted surgical instrument case, WRAL.com, June 19, 2008

Duke, patients settle hydraulic fluid claims, The News and Observer, January 19, 2008

Read the Lawsuit

Related Web Resources:

Hydraulic Fluid Facts, Dukehealth.org

A compilation of correspondence related to hydraulic fluid issues at Duke University Health System, Dukehealth.org

Full post as published by North Carolina Injury Lawyer Blog on June 20, 2008 (boomark / email).