Two Portland-area hospital systems announced Thursday afternoon that doctors involved in roughly 2,400 surgeries and other procedures may have exposed patients to infectious diseases including HIV, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C.
Providence Health & Services and Legacy Health announced that a physician or member of the Oregon Anesthesiology Group may have violated “infection control” practices.
Providence gave the most details in a written statement, saying the doctor may have been at “low risk of exposing patients to potential infection.” Legacy Health described the individual as a “health care provider.” Oregon Health Authority officials said the doctor had been involved in surgeries and other procedures requiring intravenous anesthesia but did not provide details about what happened.
State health officials said no one has been infected.
Both hospital systems said they were mailing letters to potentially affected patients, including about 2,200 patients at Providence Willamette Falls Medical Center in Oregon City, two patients at Providence Portland Medical Center in Northeast Portland and 221 patients at Legacy Mount Hood Medical Center in Gresham.
According to Providence, the doctor treated patients from 2017 through November 2023. A statement from Legacy Health said the individual treated patients for six months, beginning in December 2023, meaning patients could have been infectious as late as May.
“As a precaution, these patients are being encouraged to undergo free blood testing to screen for the aforementioned infectious diseases,” Providence officials said in a news release. “If the patient tests positive, Providence will contact them to discuss the test results and next steps.”
Both hospital systems said the individuals believed to be responsible for the infection control violations are no longer employed by Oregon Anesthesiology Group and no longer treat patients at either facility.
Group spokesman Scott Gallagher said the doctor is no longer employed by the organization.
“Patient safety is our number one priority,” Gallagher said in a written statement. “When we learned that the physician had violated infection control practices, we suspended him, notified our partners, Legacy Health and Providence, which initiated an investigation that resulted in the physician’s termination. Although the risk of infection was low, new protocols and procedures have been put in place to prevent similar incidents in the future.”
Gallagher and the hospital chain declined to answer further questions. The Oregon State Medical Association and the Oregon Medical Association did not immediately respond to requests for more information. The doctor’s name was not released.
Providence cuts affiliation with Oregon Anesthesiology Group Providence ended its 33-year contract with the physician-owned practice last year, a move that came after Providence said surgeries were being canceled or postponed due to a shortage of anesthesiologists.
But the switch to a new group, the Sound Physicians, based in Washington state, This led to further delays in surgery. After losing its contract with Providence, Oregon Anesthesiology Group was hired by Legacy because Sound Physicians couldn’t quickly hire an anesthesiologist.
The Oregon Health Authority said in a statement Thursday that it is working with Willamette Falls and Mount Hood Medical Centers to investigate lapses in infection control procedures and is not currently investigating whether the hospitals complied with state and federal licensing and certification requirements. The statement did not mention Providence Portland Medical Center, where two patients may have been infected.
“The Oregon Health Authority recognizes the anxiety, suffering and loss experienced by people who contract a healthcare-associated infection (HAI),” the agency said in a statement, adding that one in 31 people in the United States contracts such an infection every day.
The statement continues: “Hospital-acquired infections can have devastating effects on patients, increasing the length of hospital stay, delaying recovery from illness, causing psychological stress and even leading to sepsis and death.”
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