Dirty hospital drains blamed in Canada baby deaths
Pastor Dale Morgan
Saturday April 28, 4:47 AM Reuters
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Dirty hospital drains blamed in Canada baby deaths*
What's Lurking in Your Drains??
By Robert Melnbardis
MONTREAL (Reuters) - Bacteria growing in a poorly maintained plumbing
system is being blamed for the deaths of six premature babies in a
Montreal hospital three years ago, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.
reported on Friday.
A television documentary by Radio-Canada, the CBC's French-language
service, revealed that the babies died after they contracted the
"Pseudomonas aeruginosa" bacterium in the neonatal intensive care ward
of Sainte-Justine Hospital.
The deaths occurred in 2004 and 2005.
Almost 50 babies were infected at Sainte-Justine during that period with
the bacterium, which is commonly found in soil and water and attacks the
respiratory system. It can cause pneumonia and blood infections,
especially in humans with weakened immune systems.
After the first baby died in 2004, the hospital disinfected the crowded
ward and searched for the source of the bacterium but over the next 18
months, five more babies died, Radio-Canada said.
The hospital closed the ward in December 2005 and discovered that the
bacterium was breeding in the ward's sinks, which were not draining
properly, the report showed.
Parents of three of the dead babies told Radio-Canada they were never
told their baby died after having been infected with the bacterium.
On Friday, Quebec Health Minister Philippe Couillard said steps have
been taken to ensure that health services at Sainte-Justine are safe.
"I insist that transparency and correct information to the public is
part of the solution," Couillard told reporters in the provincial
capital Quebec City.
Sainte-Justine officials told Radio-Canada that they are renovating the
hospital's neonatal ward and have changed procedures so that no water
from the plumbing system comes into contact with babies.
Eric Caire, the health critic for the opposition Action democratique
party criticised the province's Liberal government for having a "culture
of camouflage" and not telling the public about the crisis at
Sainte-Justine's neonatal ward.
Caire asked the government to hold a public inquiry into the case.