Personal Injury Law

Hospital Scrubs Cause Infections

By Steven M. Levin and John J. Perconti

An infection called ?C. diff? has been plaguing hospitals nationwide and some people are blaming the scrubs that the hospital staff wear. A national hospital survey has warned that C. diff infections are sickening half a million people a year. Some hospitals have gone as far as to prohibit scrubs outside the building. This is in response to a study which shows that 65% of medical personnel change their lab coat less than once a week, though they are aware that it?s contaminated. Superbugs such as staph can live on the polyester coats for up to 56 days. C. diff has caused healthy patients who go into hospital for elective surgery to die, because it is hard to control outside of the hospital. Hospitals should launder scrubs for all staff and prohibit them from wearing scrubs outside the building in order to combat this problem. To read the full story, click here.

Full post as published by Illinois Medical Malpractice Blog on January 14, 2009 (boomark / email).