Patients who underwent surgical procedures between April 1, 2019 and September 30, 2019 may be at risk for serious infections such as HIV, Hepatitis C, Hepatitis A, or other blood-borne diseases. The President and CEO of Goshen Health and Hospital Chief Medical Officer issued a letter in November 2019 informing patients they were put at risk due to a surgical technician’s failure to follow appropriate steps to fully sterilize the instruments. According to the letter, the faulty procedures were used by only one of their seven surgical instrument sterilization technicians. The hospital is claiming that other sterilization procedures, including chemical and machine sterilizations were still used on the surgical tools during this time, but that the instruments still may not have been completely sterile due to the technician’s errors.

What To Do If You Were Affected?

The first step is to obtain relevant lab testing to determine if the sterilization error caused any infection or disease. Goshen Health is providing free lab testing to all patients who may have been affected and is providing a call center for individuals to voice their concerns. We recommend discussing any questions or concerns regarding your health care with your primary care provider. Subsequent testing may be necessary depending on the date of your original surgery with Goshen Health.

Be alert for signs of infection, which may include:

  • Fever
  • Fatigue
  • Swollen lymph nodes
  • Loss of appetite
  • Chills or sweats
  • Shortness of breath
  • Severe headaches
  • Stiffness or muscle aches
  • Nausea/vomiting
  • Abdominal pain
  • Diarrhea
  • Dark urine
  • Skin rash or itching

Keep the letter you received from Goshen Health in a safe place. If you experienced any issues after your surgical procedure, gather all evidence, including photos, billing records, and any medical records in your possession. Learn about your legal rights by contacting experienced Indiana medical malpractice attorneys.

Call Our Firm for Legal Support.

Finding out this information may be extremely alarming and distressing to affected individuals. Hospitals have an obligation to comply with appropriate standards of care and to provide clean and safe environments for their patients. If you received a letter informing you that your health care provider put you at unnecessary risk of disease or infection, contact our experienced Medical Malpractice Attorneys for a free case evaluation. The sooner you contact our firm, the sooner we can begin building your case.

Our law firm represents several individual patients that received the notification letter. We are pursuing individual claims against Goshen Hospital so that each person can pursue their own individual claim and not be bound by what a class action plaintiff is doing.

In our law firm’s professional judgment, we believe the proposed class is unlikely to be certified. One of the biggest hurdles to a class action is commonality of claims and damages. Here, the potential injuries and damages vary greatly from one plaintiff to the next. For example, Plaintiff A may have actually contracted a disease. Plaintiff B may suffer purely emotional injuries. Plaintiff C could be a family member that was infected by another family member who was exposed, etc. Each plaintiff’s pathway of exposure could also differ. Given the numerous individualized inquires present in each plaintiff’s case, Wagner Reese seriously questions whether this scenario will satisfy the class action criteria.

See the full letter from Goshen Health here.

Schedule your free consultation online or call (888) 204-8440 to speak to one of our lawyers today.