Three years ago, a nurse in Melbourne, Australia, Marilyn Espinola, witnessed a harrowing scene in the operating room—the patient’s face caught fire as the surgeons were carrying out a procedure.
Now Espinola is suing the Sunshine Hospital, in St Albans. Ms. Espinola was later diagnosed with PTSD and depression, which affected her attempts to return to work, leading to panic attacks.
Lawyers representing Ms. Espinola are seeking compensation for her suffering and loss of income. They argue that the hospital should have been aware of the potential risk of surgical fires during the medical procedure and taken appropriate precautions.
Ms. Espinola recalled that during the procedure, a bilateral temporal arterial biopsy, the surgeon shouted “fire!” as flames appeared on the patient’s face, after oxygen was ignited by a probe. Espinola attempted to extinguish the fire while medical staff responded to the situation. Flaming garments fell to the floor, causing a momentary chaotic scene.
Complicating an already alarming situation, due to a malfunctioning emergency button, the nurse was not able to seek immediate help for the elderly patient who suffered severe burns to her face, hands and airway and was later transferred to another hospital for multiple surgeries.
As an immediate result of the incident, Ms. Espinola sustained an ankle injury. Later, the trauma also led to PTSD. More importantly, however, she felt that her injury was not adequately addressed by the hospital, and that there was also a delay in reporting the incident to WorkSafe Victoria.
Sunshine Hospital’s management declined to comment on the ongoing legal proceedings, citing confidentiality. Ms. Espinola hopes for a thorough investigation to hold the hospital accountable and prevent similar harrowing incidents in the future.
