MedPage Today Aaron Young was a patient in a California hospital undergoing a routine procedure investigating the source of his pancreatitis. He needed an exam using a duodenoscope — something more than 500,000 Americansopens in a new tab or window undergo each year. But what should have been safe turned serious.
The duodenoscope used on Young was contaminated. He developed a severe, antibiotic-resistant infection and spent multiple months in the hospital receiving treatment. His storyopens in a new tab or window mirrors those of hundreds of other patients — all part of hospital outbreaks that, in 2016, prompted a Senate investigation and a report entitled Preventable Tragediesopens in a new tab or window. That report detailed how more than 250 drug-resistant infections and multiple deaths went unrecognized until long after they occurred, and it called for systemic changes to prevent similar outbreaks in the future.