The Associated Press, "N.C. patients discuss surgical-tool fiasco"

          Patients whose surgeons unknowingly used instruments washed in hydraulic fluid instead of detergent held their first group meeting, sharing stories of delayed recoveries and distrust of their doctors. About 50 people attended the meeting Thursday, organized by a freelance medical writer who was among 3,800 patients to undergo surgery with instruments washed in the fluid in late 2004 at two hospitals owned by Duke University Health System.
          Workers at Durham Regional Hospital and Duke Health Raleigh Hospital had complained about slippery instruments before it was discovered that hydraulic fluid had been inadvertently used in place of soap in washing machines that clean surgical tools. The instruments also had been run through a steam bath for sterilization. The hydraulic fluid came from a hospital parking garage where workers had drained it into empty soap containers while working on an elevator, then packaged it on a pallet. The containers were sent back to the distributor and then reshipped to the hospitals when soap was ordered.
          Duke officials asked for advice from an environmental health toxicologist at the university and other experts. They also have offered health monitoring for two years to the patients. Opinions on the potential harm from the fluid varied. A report by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said the hospitals' errors put patients in "immediate jeopardy."