Aaron Fritzsche Inpatient roommates have same surgeon and same post-op HAI staph infections

Your Name:Jane Waun

Patient’s Name/Relationship: Aaron Fritzsche

City/State: Petoskey, MI

When did event occur (what year)? 2018

Where did event occur? Acute Care General Hospital

What type of medical harm did you experience or witness? Healthcare-Acquired Infection

Please describe what happened. My 40 year old son had what was expected to be a simple arthroscopic knee surgery in Jan 2018. He was told he’d be on crutches 1-2 days and could then return to work. He woke up to find out the Dr had done something called micro fracture surgery- because the knee was “much worse than expected”. About 2-3 weeks post-op he developed staph infection. He spent 9 days in the hospital and had 3 additional surgeries to “flush out” the infection from his knee. Half way through the hospital stay he developed a severe reaction to the antibiotic and had a bright red rash over his whole body. He was on IV antibiotics for at least 6 weeks (came home from hospital w/ PICCline and had to administer antibiotics to himself through this 3 times/day). He has not walked in well over 2 months and will now need to start p.t to begin walking again. He is 6 feet 3 inches, a former athlete who still coaches his 3 kids basketball teams (or was before the happened). I have no idea how to determine if there as negligence on the part of the hospital as far as his getting this infection in the first place. I’m quite sure it is actionable that the type of surgery that was done was never discussed with him. At one point one of his roommates in the hospital reported having developed staph infection after having had back surgery at the same hospital w/ the same Dr. The hospital and Dr did seem defensive when we were thinking of having my son transferred to University of MI hospital.

What was the outcome of the medical harm issue? Extended length of hospital stay