Last September, a woman was killed after she sustained severe burns from a flash fire during surgery.  Although flash fires are a rare occurrence in operating rooms, it does happen.

Sixty-five-year-old Janice McCall died at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, six days after she was burned on an operating table at Heartland Regional Medical Center in Marion, Illinois.  Her death was the result of complications from thermal burns and was classified as accidental.

Although the hospital wouldn’t say how the fire started, it is known that the accidental flash fire occurred in one of the hospital’s operating rooms, injuring McCall before it was extinguished.

Surgical flash fires have been known to happen and are usually sparked by electric surgical tools when oxygen builds up under surgical drapes.  The rate of occurrence is about 550 to 600 times a year.  It is estimated that about one or two people die each year from these fires.

Most likely there will be a medical malpractice case to follow McCall’s death.  It is safe to assume that “lighting a patient on fire” does not follow the standard of care.