If you have ever watched a medical show on television, you have seen that doctors are constantly in contact with the hospital and other physicians. Though pagers are going by the wayside in the public domain, they are still used in hospitals as an immediate form of communication. Even so, more and more doctors are using their cellphones to communicate. This can be disastrous in an operating room, where every instrument and exposed surface is expected to be sterile.
A recent study has shown that cellphones tend to be one of the main carriers of bacteria and other pathogens in an operating room. The statistics shown by the study were shocking. More than 80 percent of cell phones carried harmful contaminants. Even after they were "cleaned," nearly 10 percent still had the bacteria on them.
This did not just apply to the operating room, either. About 95 percent of all hospital staff had phones with bacteria on it. These phones and bacteria can be dangerous, causing infections in patients. Though the study did not give definitive measures for sterilization techniques, it's probably safe to say doctors should disinfect their phones before treating or operating on patients.
This form of hospital negligence can be especially dangerous to weak or extremely sick patients. Developing an infection at the hospital or in some other way experiencing a worsened medical condition is bad enough. Knowing it could have been prevented with a disinfectant wipe can be infuriating. If you were the victim of negligence, it is important to contact an expert attorney who can guide you through a medical malpractice claim.