http://www.newsday.com/news/health/ceiling-drips-described-in-transplant-suit-documents-1.6926318Ceiling drips described in transplant suit documents
By DELTHIA RICKS
Documents about a possible safety breach at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset state an unidentified fluid dripped more than once from an operating room ceiling, including onto a kidney that surgeons were preparing to transplant three years ago.
The hospital denies that a fluid of any kind leaked in one of its operating rooms.
Two separate reports by the same surgeon indicate a fluid fell not only on the newly harvested kidney, which was referenced in the surgeon's discharge report of the patient, but also dripped onto the doctor's visor, according to a second form, dated and signed by the physician.
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Anne Pashcke, spokeswoman for the United Network for Organ Sharing -- UNOS -- the nonprofit that oversees transplant centers for the federal government, said certain patient-safety issues are reportable to UNOS. These include whether a donor's organ fails.
Gwendolyn Johnson's organ was washed and flushed with antibiotics and did not properly function once transplanted, according to hospital documents.
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