Replay: Chat with DMC investigation reporters

The Detroit News

The Midtown hospitals of the Detroit Medical Center have struggled for years to properly clean surgical instruments, stoking doctors’ fears about patient safety, a Detroit News investigation has found.

There are multiple methods for cleaning medical devices, depending on the material and design of the instrument, but the process typically goes like this: Before leaving the operating room, the instruments are sprayed or soaked in enzymatic detergent solution.

The News obtained more than 200 pages of internal emails and reports indicating that surgeons and staffers have complained for at least 11 years about improperly cleaned, broken and missing instruments. The complaints have continued under the tenure of the for-profit Tenet Healthcare of Dallas, Texas, which acquired the DMC in 2013, the documents show.

Chat with the reporters that conducted the six-month investigation and ask them your questions live at 1 p.m. Thursday. Send in your questions or comments now.

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