--- title: "Hospital Refuses to Pause Surgeries After Finding Unknown Contaminants on Equipment Trays" description: "A prominent San Diego hospital is refusing to halt surgeries in spite of employees' concerns over the strange particles they found in the trays where they store surgical equipment. As the San Diego Union-Tribune reported earlier this week, employees at the Kaiser Zion Medical Center in the San Diego neighborhood of Grantville have been calling on […]" date: "2023-06-10" modified: "2023-06-10" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/hospital-surgical-contaminants" categories: - "Health & Medicine" - "Prosthetics and Devices" tags: - "contamination" - "hospitals" - "San Diego" - "surgery" --- # Hospital Refuses to Pause Surgeries After Finding Unknown Contaminants on Equipment Trays ![A San Diego hospital is refusing to halt surgeries in spite of concerns over strange particles found on surgical trays.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* Here's some weird medical drama: a prominent California hospital is refusing to halt surgeries, in spite of employees finding strange particles in the trays where they store operating equipment. As the [*San Diego Union-Tribune* reported this week](), employees at the Kaiser Zion Medical Center in San Diego have been calling on hospital administrators to suspend surgeries after staff found strange, visible particles in their surgical trays. "There are black/gray/brown particles of an unknown substance dusting the interiors of our surgical trays," surgical technician Elizabeth Haynes told the *Union-Tribune*, "in addition to black greasy smears of a known, but not surgically-approved substance." While the contaminants are reportedly inside the trays rather than visibly on the equipment itself, staff were still — understandably — worried enough to sign a petition asking for a suspension of surgical activities until they figure out what's going on. "Sterilization guidelines," Haynes reminded, "are that anything non-sterile (or) non-sterilizable found inside a surgical tray renders that tray contaminated." In spite of this seemingly massive concern, however, administrators at Kaiser, a giant nationwide healthcare provider, are refusing to do more than investigate the matter, saying in a statement to employees that the newspaper reviewed that the hospital will "continue to schedule surgeries at Zion that can be safely performed." "We have confirmed that all measures we are taking to clean, process and transport surgical equipment to our Zion Medical Center for use is safe and medically appropriate," the statement continued. The healthcare system added that it is "currently cleaning and flushing the lines of this equipment to remove all residual particulates," but hospital staff aren't convinced. According to Haynes, management told staff sterilizing the trays is enough because it would render the bizarre particles "inert and non-microbial" — an explanation she rejects because particles going inside surgical wounds could still be an issue on their own. "The fact that a contaminant is ‘safe’ (not a microbe) doesn’t mean that contaminant is \[not\] implantable," the technician told the *Union-Tribune*. As of June 8, Kaiser management has continued to refuse to pause surgeries, [telling the local *CBS* broadcaster]() that it is "confident" nothing has come of the contamination. **More on medical weirdness:** [*Youth-Obsessed Tech Mogul Now Swapping Blood With His Teenage Son*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()