Unbounded Medicine

A christchurch surgeon in a post-op rush has sparked a bloody bag at Queenstown Airport. Local medical minister of health Dr. Derek Bell intends referring the incident to the New Zeland Medical Council – he says it was reported to him “there was a blood stain on the bag that was increasing in size”.

Peter Walker, the surgeon who tried to check in his blood-stained laundry bag as hold luggage last Thursday afternoon, told Mountain Scene “diluted watery blood stained the bottom of the sack”.

Walker admits the baggage contained a plastic bag full of used surgery gowns, a blood-soaked towel and surgical instruments in steel trays. Walker denied that the instruments posed a danger, saying they were inside steel trays.

Walker said he always asks patients beforehand if they have infectious conditions like HIV infection or hepatitis. “I knew there was no infectious material at all” He said.

“I only had 10 minutes to spare to get to the airport and, as I was going to load the bag into the car, I said, ‘Oh, there’s a patch of blood-stained water’.”

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