About 40 patients tested after Hopital Enfant Jesus Tournevis issue
About forty patients linked to hopital enfant jesus tournevis were told to get HIV and hepatitis tests after a surgical screwdriver used at Hôpital de l'Enfant-Jésus was found to have been poorly disinfected since 2017. The CHU de Québec-Université Laval said the patients were contacted and given prescriptions for screening.
Hôpital de l'Enfant-Jésus
The surgeries involving the instrument took place over the past nine years at Hôpital de l'Enfant-Jésus, and all of the operations covered by the recall were done there. The CHU de Québec said the screwdriver is rarely used, but the cleaning process had not fully matched what the device required.
Jean-Thomas Grantham, a CHU de Québec-Université Laval spokesperson, said: "Ce qu’ils ont découvert en cours de route, c’est qu’une des pièces du manche de ce tournevis peut se démonter". He said staff were not informed of the procedure to follow, and they disinfected the instrument without fully dismantling it.
Jean-Thomas Grantham
The hospital said the testing is being requested as a precaution and that the contamination risk is considered low. Marilou Couture said: "Dès que le risque pour les patients a été découvert, le processus de nettoyage a été revu et est maintenant conforme".
One patient, Martine, a woman in her sixties from Chaudière-Appalaches, said she had surgery in 2024 and was called last week by an infectious disease specialist from the CHU de Québec. She said her blood test results would take between two and three weeks, and after learning she needed screening she said: "Si tu ne peux faire confiance à l’hôpital, tu peux faire quoi ?"
Martine en 2024
Martine said: "J’ai été assez surprise, vous n’avez même pas idée !" She added after her blood test: "Je n’ai pas de symptômes, mais j’y pense pareil" and, when told the risk was low, "Quand même que tu me diras que c’est juste un cas sur 100 000, ça m’inquiète".
For the affected patients, the immediate step is the blood test already prescribed. The hospital has already revised the cleaning process, leaving the recall focused on testing rather than further surgery changes for those contacted.
