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You visit a hospital when you have a serious illness or ailment that you’re not sure how to handle. It’s the mindset of many people, if you think you have a health emergency, you visit a hospital.
While hospitals are a place for you to recover, unfortunately, it’s also a place that’s filled with sick people. With more sick people in one location, this means if someone is carrying a virus, then you may just be at the wrong place at the wrong time.
In British Columbia, two hospitals, St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver and Victoria General Hospital, announced a Norwalk virus outbreak in early January. The virus can be spread through food, water or ice handled by someone with the virus, which can lead to vomiting episodes. If there’s frequent vomiting, the virus can spread through the air and the virus remains resilient while living on surfaces. About seven people were affected, in this particular outbreak, according to Global News. This is only one of a few Canadian hospital outbreaks that have happened in 2014.
In February, there was a scabies outbreak at the Oakville-Trafalgar Memorial Hospital. It left more than 30 staff members with an irritating, itchy skin rash and 40 discharged patients were at risk of being infected, according to the Toronto Star. Hospital staff who were not infected underwent preventative measures and past patients were contacted the hospital and notified of symptoms.
While in March, the Waterloo region Grand River Hospital faced a gastrointestinal illness outbreak that infected five people (two staff members and three patients), according to CBC News. Symptoms felt by those infected include nausea and diarrhea. The hospital’s response included isolating infected patients, sending infected staff home and limiting hospital visitors to curb the outbreak.
A recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that a new strain of the coronavirus was easily transmitted in hospitals across the Middle East. The respiratory illness has led to death of about 66 per cent of those infected, according to Bloomberg News, and healthcare institutions need to focus on preventing outbreaks, such as this one. The MERS coronavirus spread is similar to the SARS outbreak in 2003, which infected both patients and healthcare workers.
Patients should be able to expect proper care from their doctors and nurses and two frequent issues with healthcare involve medical negligence and failing to properly inform the patient about a medical procedure. It’s also expected that medical staff follow proper procedures to prevent contamination of one patient’s illness to another patient. Unfortunately, when medical staff make mistakes, whether it’s in emergency rooms during surgeries, when prescribing medication or misdiagnosing a patient’s symptoms, they can result in devastating costs for patients. While Canada is renown for its free healthcare, the nation’s hospitals could improve readmission rates and it’s working towards removing dangerous drugs from store shelves sooner.
The personal injury and accident lawyers at Neinstein Personal Injury Lawyers have been handling all types of injuries for over 40 years including injuries from negligent medical workers. We understand the impacts injuries can have on your life and we know how to help you. Call us at 416-920-4242. Set up a free consultation and come talk with us.