Investigators found stained surgical equipment and a surgery had to be halted at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Washington because staff lacked equipment, according to an article on the USA Today website.
The inspectors said patients were potentially in danger and notified members of Congress.
A patient prepped for vascular surgery had already been placed under anesthesia when “it was determined that the surgeon did not have a particular sterile instrument to perform the surgery," the article said.
“The surgery was postponed,” an investigator wrote. “In addition, we identified other surgical instruments that had color stains of unknown origin in sterile packs. This made the instrument packs unsuitable for surgeries.”
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