I'm not a doctor, though it's certainly not for a lack of understanding of human anatomy... if you get my meaning, so maybe I don't know all there is to know about neurosurgery. Still, something about this doesn't seem quite right.

Officials from Emory University Hospital have contacted more than 500 people who underwent operations at the hospital between September 10 and 27. The reason is that a man who had brain surgery during that period was later diagnosed with the human variant of mad cow disease, Creutzfeldt-Jakob, and exposure to the implements used might result in infection.

According to the article:

Emory officials said they routinely sterilize all surgical equipment and have implemented an even more thorough sterilization procedure since Sept. 15.

I routinely wash my pants, but there's usually not any blood and gristle on them. Doesn't it seem like the sterilization of the various skull saws, scalp peelers, and gray matter knives used should be done after every single brain surgery? I mean, I'll bet Emory charges insurance companies hundreds of thousands of dollars to crack a skull open. For that, maybe they should just spring for a brand new set of steak knives every time.

Analogcabin @ 9:29 AM
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