Surgery Patient Burned at Scranton Hospital

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

A Scranton hospital failed to properly investigate a serious incident in which a patient was burned during a routine surgical procedure, according to a state Health Department report.
The patient, who was undergoing an obstetrical procedure at the Geisinger Community Medical Center, was burned on the upper left thigh when an instrument became disconnected and a cord struck the patient's leg.
"The facility failed to complete an investigation regarding a patient sustaining a burn during a surgical procedure," the report states, adding that the failure amounted to a violation of the state Medical Care Availability and Reduction of Error Act.
State surveyors who visited the 279 bed facility in August also reported that the hospital's patient safety committee also failed to investigate a "serious event."
The patient was injured in early April but when the state inspectors asked for a copy of the investigative report "none was provided."
Also cited in the report was the failure of nursing staff to document a description of the patient's injury. The report states that the wound was 1.5 to 2 centimeters in diameter when the patient was examined by a doctor a little over a month after the incident.
The hospital filed a plan of correction in which it agreed to re-educate staff on the types of incidents that must be investigated and the proper method of conducting such an investigation.
A hospital spokesman said s subsequent investigation showed that "user error" and not equipment failure led to the incident. He said the patient was informed of what happened and the plan of correction was implemented.
The report is the third in recent months to cite a Geisinger hospital. The Geisinger Wyoming Medical Center in Wilkes Barre was cited for failing to immediately assign staff to maintain a constant watch on a suicidal patient. In the third incident Geisinger Wyoming was cited for failure to perform a physician ordered test.