Cardinal Health recalls contaminated surgical gowns

While it's too early to tell if any patients were harmed by these contaminated gowns, the hospitals impacted reads like who's who that includes Stanford, Stanford Children's, Northwestern, NY Presbyterian, Kaiser, BJC HealthCare, Rush, Jefferson, and Adventist Health.

In addition to the potential for patient harm, this recall will prove costly to hospitals, and ultimately patients. I have it on good authority that some hospitals have been forced to limit the number of elective surgical procedures as they scramble to secure acceptable replacements. Given that it is common practice to include these gowns in "surgical packs" (kits of sterile supplies and equipment used during a procedure), many facilities impacted by this recall will also need to tear down existing packs, re-sterilize equipment, and rebuild packs. This is a non-trivial process that takes time and is prone to human errors that could lead to case delays and/or cancellations.

Big picture: these sort of recalls are more common and widespread than one would think. In the last year alone, medical devices ranging from baby warmers to IV infusion pumps were recalled due to serious patient safety issues. For proof check out https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety....

Take home point: while it may be trendy to fund biotech startups, it'd be great to see a VC-backed company disrupt the medical supply chain with the goal of delivering safer products at lower cost. If someone out there is up for the challenge, I welcome the opportunity to help.