A woman suffered burns during a cesarean operation when a fire broke out in the operating room at Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer in 2008, a report by a Health Ministry inquiry committee reveals.
Hospital staff had washed the woman with various chemical solutions to sterilize her before the operation and then dried her off. But when she was brought to the operating room, the surgeon asked that the relevant areas of her body be washed down again with an alcohol solution, just to be doubly sure.
The surgeon then cut into her with a diathermic needle. But the instrument, which uses an electric current, emitted a spark, and when the spark touched the alcohol on her body, it burst into flame.
After putting out the fire and bandaging her, the staff continued the operation and delivered a healthy baby. But the woman later needed plastic surgery for the burns, including a skin transplant in her buttocks and thighs.
[...]
The inquiry committee noted that the danger of fire is particularly great during operations, like a cesarean, performed with the legs elevated, since this causes the alcohol solution to collect under the buttocks.
[Ha'aretz]
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