Thread: Damn, it just wasn't her day.

Blast burns patient's face

Marisa Schultz / The Detroit News



Sheesh, you would think Danny Devito was trying to off his mom.

CLINTON TOWNSHIP -- Watching her mother nearly die from a heart attack last week was devastating. But learning that her mother's face was burned while recovering in the hospital has been too much for Edita Torres.
Torres' anger follows the explosion Saturday in the ICU at Henry Ford Macomb Hospital in Clinton Township.
Her mother, Valerija Milosevic, 75, had been improving from the heart attack, but has been unconscious since the fire, Torres said.
"This shouldn't have happened," said Torres, 38, from her Washington Township home Sunday. "There's no excuse in my mind. She's in the intensive care unit."
Henry Ford Macomb Hospital officials are investigating the cause of what they call a fire burst.
"Our apologies go out to the family," said Henry Ford Macomb Hospital spokeswoman Suzanne Schut. "We are assuming all accountability for the incident."
Milosevic, who is legally deaf and doesn't speak English, suffered a massive heart attack Oct. 22, landing the Austrian-born woman in the hospital with broken ribs from paramedics' successful revival attempts. She learned then that she needs heart bypass surgery. Milosevic fell out of the bed Saturday, breaking her nose and gashing her forehead, Torres said.
Medical staff was treating the cut above her eyebrow that necessitated about 20 stitches when the fire broke out, Torres said.
"When they went to cauterize the cuts, they didn't take off the oxygen mask and it blew up in her face," Torres said.
The Fire Department was called to the scene, but by the time firefighters arrived, medical staff had already extinguished the fire, Schut said.
Milosevic remains in fair condition at the hospital, Schut said. Medical professionals inside the room during the procedure suffered minor injuries, Schut said.
"This is a major setback and a major trauma," Torres said. "I'm still choked up to think of the pain this poor woman went through. To see her go through that much pain, I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy."

"broken ribs from paramedics' successful revival attempts. She learned then that she needs heart bypass surgery. Milosevic fell out of the bed Saturday, breaking her nose and gashing her forehead, Torres said.
Medical staff was treating the cut above her eyebrow that necessitated about 20 stitches when the fire broke out, Torres said.
"When they went to cauterize the cuts, they didn't take off the oxygen mask and it blew up in her face"

Broken ribs are a part of CPR unfortunately. If you don't do the compressions hard enough you won't get the blood moving, but hey, better a couple of broken ribs then death (this is a recurring theme in the medical world-the lesser of two evils). And the fall may not be anyone's fault as well, because that is just the reality of hospital and the elderly. They may be put on fall precautions or 1 to 1, if they are really out out of it, but there are not enough medical professionals to watch each patient all the time, this one will be decided by the testimonies and documentation of the doctors/nurses during trial.

The whole igniting the O2 line thing is just plain stupid and those people should be fired and have their licenses revoked.