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Who Let this Happen???
Posted by Raven on June 18th, 2005
It’s a good thing TB isn’t as dangerous as it used to be. This is ridiculous. There is NO need for this to have happened and someone needs to be held accountable. Probably a few people, including the intern herself. For those who work in healthcare, we know we cannot work if a TB test comes back positive. There is a protocol we have to go through, and certain other things have to occur before we can return to work. Everyone gets tested yearly for this deadly disease. I hope the CDC is involved with this. This falls under what we call an Sentinel Event: Serious stuff.
The number of people possibly exposed to tuberculosis from an infected student doctor has swelled to nearly 4,000 while officials probe whether the diseased woman skipped a crucial medical appointment.
Testing is under way and health officials are urging former patients and hospital employees – anyone who may have had close contact with the woman – to get tested to prevent an outbreak. Officials said the TB exposure is the broadest in recent Bay State history.
I’m surprised that it’s this few people being tested. When you consider how many people a doctor comes into contact with, and then consider all the people THOSE people contact with….this has the potential to spread like a wildfire. Many people have been exposed to TB and it isn’t the end of the world…TB is treated with antibiotics now and is not considered the killer it used to be (so long as treatment is taken care of ASAP). It is contagious.
The resident, a Boston University Medical School graduate, did surgical rounds at Boston Medical Center, West Roxbury Veterans Affairs Hospital, Cape Cod Hospital and Brockton Hospital.
It looks to me like the medical school and four hospitals dropped the ball here. She should have been tested at every facility prior to being allowed to practice. It doesn’t usually matter if you have already had a TB test within a year; most medical facilties will require another test.
The woman went to the Boston Public Health Commission’s TB clinic at BMC earlier this month and was told to stop working June 2. Her culture came back Monday and tested positive for TB, officials said.
The Herald reported yesterday that the resident became infected sometime between June 2003 and June 2004. She was referred to the commission’s TB clinic but did not go for her appointment or chest X-ray scheduled for July 15, 2004, when she was doing her first rotation at the West Roxbury VA, according to a document obtained by the Herald.
The woman was treated for pneumonia in January. Three culture tests for TB were negative at the time, suggesting she was not very infectious, the document said.
The document said she had developed a new cough and other symptoms in May. She had a chest X-ray June 2 that showed she was infected.
Health officials said yesterday the woman was potentially contagious from Dec. 1, 2004, to June 2, 2005. BMC health-care workers are mandated to get tested for TB annually.
Wow. Someone who works in this field, who tests positive for TB, knows better than to work. They know how serious this could be. And they also know how easy treatment can be. This woman should in some sort of trouble for this. This is a blatant show of disrespect for those who we serve (YOU the paitent). Unbelievable.
June 18th, 2005 at 6:51 pm
Actually, there’s a strain of TB that’s antibiotic resistant, and had this been that strain, it could have had much more serious results.
June 18th, 2005 at 8:00 pm
You’re right Dennis…I hadn’t thought of that. This would be a much more serious problem. I want to know if the CDC is YET involved. They are experts at tracking this stuff and seeing problems elsewhere that might be related to this. The doctor/intern here is known as Patient 0 already.
June 18th, 2005 at 9:54 pm
Be thankful it isn’t the MDR TB. Here in Houston, TB is epidemic (as they love to say on the local news stations) and MDR is starting to pop up more and more every day.
June 19th, 2005 at 10:53 pm
Wow Raven – I can’t even fathom someone choosing to work in a hospital with this diagnosis. I remember when my Mom was dying, it was suspected that she may have TB – they put her in isolation in her own room with its own ventilation – my kids couldn’t come see her and Eric and I had to garb up to go see her – a good 4-5 days worth. As there are obviously such strict protocols, they should have chosen not to put anyone at risk. Yikes!
June 20th, 2005 at 9:49 am
There are protocols in every HC facility in this country. Someone let the ball drop BIG TIME here. And this intern is one of them.
June 21st, 2005 at 5:28 pm
Yep. Epiphany is right, what with all the illegals flooding the county hospitals, MDR TB is rampant here in Houston. It may not be as bad up there in New England, but down here in the border states it is pretty bad.
June 21st, 2005 at 6:11 pm
It won’t take too long for it to spread to NE and the other regions. Dammit. Illegals are now infecting Americans. Another reason to CLOSE the borders down. Lock and stock.
November 12th, 2005 at 5:20 pm
[...] Back in June I wrote about an intern at a Boston hospital who worked after a positive TB test…and the implications of that. Today I found an article concluding the hospitals were at fault. Four Massachusetts hospitals failed to do enough to make sure doctors were free of infectious diseases before allowing them to practice medicine, federal investigators concluded after unraveling the case of a junior physician stricken with tuberculosis. [...]