Halifax surgery cancellation due to contamination frustrates couple

Bass River man's shoulder surgery was cancelled Wednesday because of contamination issues at the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre.

Carla Murphy said her husband Pat was in the hospital and had an IV in his arm when he received the news.

"Before they could even do the nerve block, the surgeon came back and said, 'Look, I'm sorry we have to cancel your surgery. I need at least two trays of instruments to do this procedure. I opened two and they were both contaminated,'" she said. 

Murphy said her husband had been waiting to have shoulder surgery since last summer. She is aware there have been issues with the sterilization equipment at the Halifax Infirmary, but was under the impression the instruments were being sterilized elsewhere. 

"What is going on that these instruments are still contaminated if they're supposed to be sterilized at other hospitals," she said. 

Murphy said her husband's surgery is non-urgent, but that he had to stop taking an important medication for one week to prepare for the procedure.

She said they're waiting until the sterilization issue is resolved before they they make the close two-hour drive to Halifax again. 

"We are not going down to the hospital again to wait five minutes before being wheeled into the OR for them say they have to cancel it. It's just too stressful. My husband does not need this stress, I don't need it."

On Wednesday, the same day Murphy's husband was scheduled for surgery, the CEO of the new province-wide Nova Scotia Health Authority said the hospital was once again performing 100 per cent of its planned surgeries. That's after issues with the machine that sterilizes surgical tools forced the cancellation of hundreds of procedures. 

"It's a false statement." said Murphy. 

The Nova Scotia Health Authority said issues like contaminated surgical kits are rare. 

"Right now, while we are able to schedule a normal number of surgeries, we still have a limited supply of surgical equipment," said Everton McLean, NSHA spokesman, via email.  

"Even when sterilization is working perfectly, kits for various reasons may not meet the strict standards we have in place to ensure patient safety."