(Find an update to this post: MRSA, Victimization and Shooting the Messenger)
(And a further update, posted 8 months later: MRSA: Patient Ignored, Left to Die — Redux)
In the past two days, I have heard three stories, all related to MRSA and other hospital acquired staph infections, and all relating to heinous — even (in my not-so-humble-opinion) criminal acts on the parts of healthcare providers or politicos.
One story came from a colleague who visited a woman in the hospital. The woman contracted an infection after surgery almost a year ago. She is still in the hospital, on life support, not because of the surgery, but because the infection has just consumed her.
But she is the better story — she is, at least, being treated.
The second story came from a woman I’ll call Maxine. Maxine had surgery last fall, and noticed spots as soon as she got home. Her husband then contracted the infection, and then her son. Her husband was diagnosed with MRSA and given an antibiotic which, of course, did nothing for him. Now NONE of the three can find anyone willing to give them a test for MRSA — because, she tells me, in her state, if they are diagnosed with one of these superbug infections, then that doctor must, by law, treat them. No doctor wants them as patients. She has reached out to me asking what can be done.
The third story is probably at the root of the other two, regardless of the fact that it comes from somewhere else. A man named Jeff thought he might have picked up an infection while at his gym. He went to the emergency room where they began checking him — with no gloves on. When he asked the doctor to wash his hands (you go, Jeff!), the doctor looked at him like he was crazy. The doctor laughed! then told him “that stuff about infections has all been blown out of proportion.” Jeff was given an antibiotic which has done nothing (more than two months later) — but wonders, too, what about the next patient that doctor treated?
And let’s not forget the federal government! It’s has come up with its own unique way of killing off its citizens. At least this is a place we can take action… link to learn more.
Is there some deep, dark conspiracy to make sure these infections continue to kill people? Why is it that providers are, on the one hand, pretending they aren’t dangerous — but on the other hand, they are making sure patients don’t get the treatment they need?
I really just don’t get this one…. and except for harping on the hand-washing advice for my readers, I just don’t know what else we patients can do.
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(Find an update to this post: MRSA, Victimization and Shooting the Messenger)
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One of the best ways to get rid of a patient in the hospital is to have a urinary catheter installed. Almost half of all infections acquired at hospitals are in the urinary tract, and most are linked to catheters. This I call as “Modern day euthanasia”. Urinary catheters are often inserted in very sick or elderly patient and are not the most common practical procedure when compared to intravenous cannulae. One in every eight patient entering hospital is said to have an intravenous cannula inserted. The incidence of significant local or bloodstream infection associated with peripheral venous cannula is said to be higher than initially estimated. Enormous number of intravenous cannulae currently used in clinical practice may result in an increasing number of intravenous cannula related complications such as phlebitis, thrombosis and bacteraemia. Ported cannulae banned in USA as this is associated with higher incidence of infection but in UK they love it.
The number of both community acquired and hospital acquired staphylococcal infection has increased in the past 20 years. This trend parallels the increased use of intravascular devices. Doctors have published papers pointing out intravascular device as a major contributor for spreading Staphylococcal infections, yet the headlines in news paper seem to talk about urinary catheters. I have personally warned the cannula & catheter manufacturers’ way back in 1989 but they have turned a blind eye towards this and are talking about needlestick injury.
I feel sad we are in this situation when no doctor on earth can do anything but pray the patient lives. Healthcare is expensive, who will be ready to pay for an infection introduced to a patient in the hospital. NHS failed to compensate patients and is now planning to fine hospitals. I can see doctors refusing to carry out practical procedures, canceling or postponing operations if the patient is found to be colonized with MRSA. Insurance companies will not be able to cope and government will soon be bankrupt. We better prepare ourselves to hear and see more stories like this in the media.
I am a manager in the hospital and I find both the original article and first comment to be incomplete, inaccurate, and misleading. We have 3-5 antibiotic options to treat MRSA and I have never seen MRSA used as an excuse to not treat somebody, cancel a procedure, etc. This is an every day thing in hospitals that does require different antibiotics but does not result in the things described above. As for urinary catheters and IV catheters - major breakthroughs are occurring in ways to prevent IV catheter infections, and it really doesn’t have much to do with the device themselves, but rather it has to do with precautions about placing it, caring for it, how long its in, etc. And they wouldn’t use the catheters if they weren’t medically necessary.
Like many blogs, the truth is hard to find here, and the allegations are off base.
I agree with Mr. Weber in that the article and the first reply and not only erroneous, but dangerous.
I work as a family nurse practitioner in a busy Level I Trauma Center. We see at least five to six cases of MRSA infections a day. These sites are generally incised and drained, packed with gauze, the patient placed on antibiotics pending a culture and sensitivity, and asked to return in 48 hours for a recheck. The packing is removed in 48 hours and the culture is checked to make sure the patient is on a medication that the bacteria involved (usually MRSA) is sensitive to.
Emergency rooms do not turn away patients, and we treat each patient the same….with the same courtesy and concern as any other patient. We even go out of our way to prescribe medications that are on the Walmart and Target 4 dollar list. The two meds considered most effective against MRSA are on these cheap med lists.
I would urge you to contact medical professionals when writing articles like this in order to get the best information you can and to avoid misleading readers who already suspect that the healthcare system simply exists to take their money for little service in return.
Thank you.
Trisha, there are two kinds of MRSA. They are probably related but are distinctly different, and it is important to know which one you are talking about.
One is the hospital-acquired variety. The other is community-associated, which is what Jeff more than likely had. CA-MRSA typically presents as a skin infection and is rarely serious. Although it’s resistant to methicillin, it generally responds to a number of other cheap antibiotics. It is not the “superbug” that it’s made out to be - so yes, indeed, the ER doctor was more or less correct (although perhaps not diplomatic) when he said it has been blown out of proportion.
You ask what the public can do. Hygiene, hygiene, hygiene. Do not share towels at the gym. Towel off the exercise equipment before you use it. Wash your gym clothing on a regular basis. If a family member has recently been in the hospital, do not share sheets, towels, pillows, etc. Launder bedding, clothing and towels frequently. If you have a cut or lesion, keep it covered with gauze or a bandage. And for heaven’s sake don’t touch it or allow other people to touch it.
Maxine’s family and Jeff might have been spared their misery if they had used some common-sense precautions.
I find it hard to believe no one will treat Maxine’s family. I find it hard to believe that the woman in your first anecdote would remain hospitalized on life support for an entire year. I’m wondering if we (and you) are really hearing the full story here. A little less credulity might be in order.
Thanks to each of you for posting.
Perrin — yes — I am fully aware of the two kinds of MRSA and have written about them before. http://patients.about.com/od/atthehospital/a/hais.htm By all means, hygiene will help — and the public needs to be aware (”harping on the handwashing”) but for the doctor to laugh and tell Jeff it was blown out of proportion — on the heels of media about young people who had died? Jeff was taking the precautions he needed to take — and the doctor was not. The doctor was supposedly the professional. The situation was not handled by the doctor well.
Mr. Webber and Dr. Johnson — if you could let me know where you are located, I would be happy to ask Maxine to contact you. She is frustrated beyond words and I report only what she has told me. The fact is that even if her story is skewed by her perceptions, they are still her perceptions and not only is she not being treated, she is being shunned. If you have a solution for her, she would like to hear it first, and I would like to hear it right behind her. Even her insurance company told her she might have to go out of state to get the diagnosis and treatment she and her family need.
What I know is that some hospitals have become more diligent and insist on the precautions necessary to prevent MRSA and other staph infections from spreading, although in some cases, they will still spread. What I also know is that too many hospitals don’t. Your infection-stopping practices may work well in your facilities, but those precautions are all but ignored in others. You absolutely know this to be the case yourselves. And if you don’t, you just aren’t paying attention.
You can dog on me all you want, but the fact is that my mother in law was a victim of a hospital acquired infection, and two other friends died after being infected with MRSA, all three within the past year.
If I can prevent bad practice on the part of professionals from killing one more person, I will do so.
Creating awareness goes a long way.
Trisha
The article was interesting and scary to read but the original writer referred to the infections “staff” infections. I believe that even though the infections may be “staff” infections the correct term is “staph”.
You’re right Bobbie — it was corrected earlier today, but Fox News picked it up with the error….
That’s what happens when I blog before I drink my morning coffee.
Thanks for the correction.
Trisha, I am sure these people are frustrated. But I think it would be wise of you to try to sort through their stories first, so they aren’t colored by misperceptions or misinformation. I mean, we only have Jeff’s word for it that this was the conversation he had with the ER doctor. I most certainly am not trying to imply that he’s lying, just pointing out that this is only one side of the story.
The first rule of reporting: Take nothing at face value.
I appreciate what you’re trying to do here, I really do. But it strikes me as irresponsible of you to grab the ball and run with it on the basis of unverified anecdotes, and then to fan the flames with words like “heinous” and “criminal.”
JMHO, of course.
[...] Victimization and Shooting the Messenger Yesterday’s post, where I told the stories of 3 (+2) victims of MRSA infections, raised ire, blame and excuses from [...]
My mother passed away at the age of 67 from mrsa which was contracted in the hospital through a wound on her foot. She spent 6 weeks in the hospital and then was sent to a nursing home where she passed away one week later. I do believe hospitals should be held accountable for this type of thing. To make matters worse this happened in a world renown medical facility in Minnesota.
Fresno, CA - Illegal altering of sewer lines is leaving a trail of lung/respiratory, asthma and of course, infections - including staph. Reporting this to the City of Fresno resulted in lies, threats, name-calling and finally, committing perjury to discredit their own records! There are documents, photographs and witnesses as further evidence of what is taking place.
Upon seeing the escalation in staph they added more medical coverage for themselves, specifically, to cover staph! While instructing the public to “wash our hands.” MRSA is also airborne - how dare they do this to us.
Is this nothing less than bioterrorism or even attempted murder!?!
Keeping patients experiences active was the key reason I set up PatientsTalking.com a free website that allow people to write a diary about their experiences within a safe & solid platform. I set it up as I wanted to read about someone with my experience to enable me to feel less alone & create some sort of understanding which is a positive self help tool.
I found looking for blogs on specific medical experiences by patients difficult to locate and took a lot of searching time. It works because you write a diary on any medical experience and can search within one website for specific medical conditions to read about others patients going through simular experiences. Although I have yet to officially launch my site the feedback has been very good and it is up and running with just under a 1,000 members.
Patients Talking have chatted with several BBC local radio stations, work with NHS PCT’s, the Long Term Conditions Alliance, E-Health, the Cardiac Network Group & the Expert Patient Programme. We were included within packets at the 3rd Annual Conference Patient Information Forum (Producing Effective Information for Patients: The Key Issue which took place on 11/03/08) and have an article coming out in E-health online in April 2008.
Patientstalking.com share your health experience today…
Kind regards, Soozi (Founder of Patients Talking) (currently looking at blogs!)
my mum went into nottingham city hospital for cancer about 5 weeks ago.the opp seemed to go well they she contracted MRSA,the hospital lead me to belive that there was nothing to worry about. even so much so she was being discharged,on that very day she was coming home she started to cough up blood & clots, so much so that they had to give her blood to replace whot she had lost, then they took some blood and left her, because her blood came back as ok they left her. 2 oclock the next morning she started to cough up blood again,at 6oclock in the morning they decided to take my mum to surgery when he put the camera down my mums throat he said all that he could see was blood.They couldnt get the blood back into her fast enough, so WHY DID;NT THEY DO ANY THING THE FIRST TIMR IT HAPPENED INSTEAD OF JUST LETTING HER BLEED TO DEATH. would this be down to the MRSA this was in her chest where the surgery was done.this is only half of the story im disgraced by this hospital and the way they treat both patients and relatives.oh and as for hygiene i think that the goverment should be looking at the staff as well, because they dont get tested for MRSA WHY NOT
My mom who lives in Fresno California was recently diagnosed with MRSA. She got it after a surgery. She started to have pain and was throwing up. Her doctor that performed the surgery was in denial that she had MRSA. Before my mom had the surgery she was scared that she was going to get MRSA. She has Lupus so her immune system is not good. She did have the surgery and 4 days later she got violently sick. The doctor would not run a test to see if she had it. The hospital doctor had to step in and order the test and four days later sure enough the test were positive. After that her doctor finally came by to see her ( which he had not been back to see her since she first got ill and she had requested to be tested for MRSA ) he called her some unkindly names and refused to treat her. Everything happened in front of the hospital staff. He is the one who did the surgery and now he is REFUSING TO TREAT HER! And the scary thing is that he had orders for her to have a catheter put in her. The hospital doctor of course did not put a catheter in her. The hospital doctor had to treat her and the doctor for disease control is also treating her. They discharged her after 3 weeks in the hospital. So don’t tell me that MRSA is no big deal and don’t tell me that doctors and staff will not refuse to treat someone. I know that by law they have to but that does not mean that they will. They will come up with some kind of reason of why they can’t. Not everyone can be treated by text book. In my moms case she already had a bad immune system you would think that after knowing my moms medical history that it would make sense to test for MRSA before having the surgery. Now after being out of the hospital for 1 week she started to throw up and was having pains again. Since she can not find a doctor that will treat her she had no choice but to go to the ER. The staff there was rude! She informed them that she has MRSA and that she currently has an open wound and she also has a vacuum that is sucking out the drainage in her belly she was also throw up and they laughed when she asked them to wear gloves before touching her. Her arms were wet and moist and the triage person did not care to wear gloves even if it was to turn her arm a certain way. She then asked if they have a separate waiting room to put her in and they again laughed and said you have to wait in the main waiting room like all of the others. Why wouldn’t they have a room for contagious people that have MRSA that is currently vomiting? Or what happens to people who have chicken pox and they sit next to someone like me who is 30 years old that has never had chicken pox. What happens to the people who have a weaken immune system and they sit out there with the healthy sick people. My mom waited out in the waiting room for 4 hours and she ended up leaving. The next day her home health nurse made her go back to the ER because she has lost 20lbs and was still actively throwing up. She went in thru triage and immediately was sent back to a room. She is still in the hospital and they did find 3 other pockets that is filled with fluid and they need to be drained. I understand the MRSA is different for people who are healthy. They usually can bounce back. But what about the ones who have a weak immune system. And by the way my mom is a clean freak. So what happens when the bloggers like the ones who are on attack and are in denial of how serious MRSA really is start to blame the patient on poor hygiene when it is the hospital staff and the hospital itself that laughs when they are requested to wear gloves. And if you have ever seen some of the staff that cleans the hospital do you think they really take that much pride in cleaning. I know people who use to work sterilizing the equipment. What a big joke of workers they were. Needless to say they no longer work there. They were given the job because their mom was a head nurse and no one had the balls to say that person did not perform her job well because you do not want to have any conflict with her mom who was one of the head nurses. This all is bad. My mom is only 54 years old she looks terrible and who knows how much longer she will last. I wonder if those other bloggers work in the medical field.
I found out I had MRSA right after mothers day. I am still fighting this horrendous infection after 7 treatments of antibiotics. My leg had a lesion on it the size of a golf ball and was swollen twice as big as the other leg. It was very painful. I could barely walk. I was having fever, rash, chills, and no appetite. Thank goodness for my husband cooking and making me eat, because I probably would have die. I went through so many bandages and tape. We bought up everything around us. Today I am still buying bandages, thank god it is not as big. My husband was infected with MRSA in April of this year and then I was infected 3 times worse than him. I do not think the doctors or cdc give you enough information regarding this infection. I also do not think they inform the general public about how contagious this really can be. I am one of those patients with no insurance and of course you know a whole lot of doctors are hospitals are not going to treat you do to the expensive antibiotics they have to give you. I have paid $700.00 for antibiotics since mothers day and yet still not cleared. The type I have is resistance to alot of antibiotics and 1 I am allergic to sulfa drug. This being the main antibiotic to clear this infection. I was pretty much told I was out there on my own by and infectious doctor since I was allergic to so many drugs. My doctor I have been going to has been very good to me. I have even started trying the natural remedies do to so many side effects with meds. I don’t know if they will cure this infection, but it is worth a try. I have pulled skin off my leg from tape and bandages and just bleed and hurt very bad. I am physically, mentally, and financial stressed. I really feel for someone with this infection. My mother and father are now suffering with this awfull infection: My mother has raynoids syndrome and my dad is a diabetic. Both have been to a wound doctor and they seem to be healing, but the real question here is do you ever really get over this horrible flesh eating bacteria. I have not read anything stating to that affect. Also I would like to point out you if the person giving advice has/have not had this infection they have no clue what all of us are going thru. Until they have been in our shoes and the pain and suffering we all have been thru, I just don’t see where they can tell us how we feel. I am sure alot of people will agree with me. I would like to know more information on how to actually get rid of MRSA instead of everyone telling how not contagious this infection is, because we all know it is very contagious. Honestly I believe it is airborne and they just don’t want to tell us. Thank you for your time and forum for us to post our feelings.
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