CONTAMINATED MEDICAL DEVICES USED IN AN OPEN HEART SURGERY CAUSED SEVERE INFECTION IN PATIENTS

Chandrayee Roy Choudhury, Canada: 

Paul Johnson always knew he'd need surgery on his heart after doctors discovered a defect in his aortic valve when he was 15 years old. In October 2015, at the age of 62, he finally had that procedure at the Mazankowski Heart Institute in Edmonton. 



Now, the 68-year-old sits in constant pain, unable to move freely around his house on his own. He takes a cocktail of antibiotics and painkillers every day, and his wife, Cathy Johnson, has become his full-time caregiver. 



During that open heart surgery in 2015, Johnson was exposed to a slow-growing bacteria, called M. chimaera, that has ravaged his body. 

Johnson is part of a class-action lawsuit that was launched because contaminated medical devices used in open heart surgeries led to serious, and in some cases deadly, M. chimaera infections.



M. chimaera is a common bacteria found in the environment, in soil and water. Although it rarely leads to infection in humans, when it does, it can be deadly.