A Florida woman remains hospitalized in an Alabama burn unit after her face caught fire during routine cyst removal surgery earlier this week in an ambulatory surgery center, officials said.
On Nov. 29, Kim Grice, a 29-year-old mother of 3 from Holt, Fla., underwent surgery to remove 3 cysts from her head at North Okaloosa Medical Center's ASC in Crestview, Fla. During the procedure, a flash fire broke out, causing burns to Ms. Grice's head and neck. The fire was quickly extinguished and she was rushed to the center's emergency room, where she was stabilized. Ms. Grice was then flown to the University of South Alabama Medical Center, where she is currently recovering. The cause of the fire is still unknown.
In a statement, the hospital said that they're "conducting a thorough review to fully understand what happened in a deliberate effort to prevent such an event from occurring again. Our highest priority is always the safety of our patients."
"At 8 a.m., 2 patients were back there; one was my daughter," Ann Grice, the patient's mother, told the Crestview News Bulletin. "At 10:20, emergency medical and the fire department pulled up and there was a 50-50 chance that they were coming through those doors for my daughter. I went to the desk and no one would tell me anything.
"I am in shock. This is not what happens with a routine outpatient surgery," she continued. "She had headaches and the doctor was going to remove 3 cysts and biopsy them, but something went bad wrong and my daughter is now in a burn unit with burn specialists and I still do not know what happened."
Seven of 10 OR fires occur during cases involving oxygen delivery under monitored anesthesia care, as noted in a recent Outpatient Surgery Magazine article offering a review of fire prevention strategies.
Mark McGraw
