A patient reportedly caught on fire during an operation in 2014 in New York, according to a report that was released on Sunday.
The New York Post reported that during a surgery at NYU Langone Medical Center, there was a “communications failure between the surgeon and anesthesiologist.” The anesthesiologist wasn’t aware that a certain instrument would be used “in the presence of oxygen.”
“It was evident that the hospital failed to provide surgical services that conformed to current standards of practice,” the report said.
NYU Langone was “not in substantial compliance” with federal regulations, the report added.
The report didn’t give details on the type of surgery or how badly the patient was injured during the fire.
“When the surgeon used the [redacted] in the presence of oxygen, there was a spark escalating to a surgical fire that involved the [redacted] and the [redacted] and the patient,” it stated.
It said, “The patient sustained [redacted].”
The Post said it received the report via a Freedom of Information request.
The U.S. National Center for Biotechnology Information has an entire section on its website dedicated to “operating room fire safety.”
There are believed to be between 550 and 650 operating room fires each year across the United States, mainly due to oxygen, the website states.
“The most common sites of fires were the head, face, neck, and upper chest. Supplemental oxygen was also present in most cases,” the website adds.
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