![](\"http:\/\/cyber.law.harvard.edu\/blogs\/static\/dowbrigade\/burrnn.gif\")
Seattle police launched an investigation on Friday to
\n determine how a patient undergoing emergency heart surgery caught on
\n fire at a local hospital in 2003.<\/p>\n
The male patient, who was not identified, went up in flames after alcohol poured
\non his skin was ignited by a surgical instrument.<\/p>\n
The patient died after the surgery but that was due to heart failure and not
\nthe fire, said Dr. Robert Caplan, medical quality director of Virginia Mason.<\/p>\n
The two-year-old incident became publicly known after an anonymous letter
\n sent to the media mentioned it as a sign of unsafe health care at the
\n hospital, and said the patient burned to deat<\/p>\n
article from Yahoo<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Seattle police launched an investigation on Friday to determine how a patient undergoing emergency heart surgery caught on fire at a local hospital in 2003. The male patient, who was not identified, went up in flames after alcohol poured on … Continue reading