Medical office under investigation

Two agencies recently opened investigations at a North Side medical office building after complaints from a former janitor who cleaned the building for several months.

Corrie Amsden, the former janitor, said she witnessed a pattern while working at the Holy Family Medical Building, 235 E. Rowan Ave. She said several clinics routinely left bags of blood-stained medical waste for untrained janitors, such as herself, to put out in the regular trash.

A spokesman for the company that manages the building and an attorney for one of the medical practices both said all trash was disposed of properly. Amsden’s former employer said she was properly trained.

The Washington Department of Labor and Industries opened a worker safety investigation following Amsden’s complaint, which she made after she inadvertently touched what she said was a suction bulb used during surgery. It was in the trash she was collecting, she said.

Her training, she said, consisted of watching a 15-minute videotape on blood-borne pathogens four months after she started work and more than a week after the incident.

She later grew curious about unlabeled trash bags routinely left in the janitor’s closet. She opened them over a period of weeks, documenting what she saw in the trash bags by taking notes and photographing the contents. She said she wore gloves while opening the bags.

Amsden’s photos show what appear to be vials of blood labeled with patients’ names, suction bulbs with attached tubing containing bloody fluid and bloody gauze. Her notes also list bloody bandages, gowns, caps, foot coverings and scrub brushes.

Labor and Industries is investigating Amsden’s former employer, the janitorial service American Building Maintenance Co., and three medical practices in the Holy Family Medical Building. The medical practices are Spokane Plastic Surgeons, Spokane Urology and Associated Surgeons.

Spokane Regional Health District also is investigating. The health agency enforces county standards for handling and disposing of biomedical waste.

Spokane County requires biomedical waste to be stored in closed, labeled bags that are impervious to moisture and resistant to tearing. They must be stored in containers inaccessible to the public and vermin. Blood products and human body remnants from surgery must be chemically treated or steam sterilized.

By state law, the definition of biomedical waste includes “discarded waste, human blood and blood components, and materials containing free-flowing blood and blood products” and “human source biopsy materials, tissues and anatomical parts that emanate from surgery, obstetrical procedures and autopsy.”

A spokesman for the company that manages the building said Amsden didn’t find biomedical waste.

“She found something in a garbage can that she assumed was biohazardous. She found paper towels, gauze, paper table cover and a saline capsule, none of which is considered medical waste,” said Gordon Hester, director of commercial management for Kiemle & Hagood.

“We’re in compliance with what the law requires,” said Michael McMahon, an attorney representing Spokane Urology. McMahon said Amsden and a Spokane TV news station that aired her story may have violated patient privacy laws by showing patient names in photos.

ABM Industries, the parent company of Amsden’s former employer in Spokane, issued a statement through a public relations company.

“Employee health and safety is a top priority at the company,” the statement reads in part. “We are very sympathetic to the situation involving Ms. Amsden, and intend to offer her our full support as this situation develops.”

Amsden, 30, quit her job May 14 because she was concerned the problem would not be corrected and she would continue to have to handle medical waste. Her employer offered her a job in a downtown bank building in a letter May 27. Amsden declined the offer because of her concern for other janitors still working in unsafe conditions.

She said she is frustrated her complaints have not resulted in more immediate action.

“They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and I say that’s about all it’s worth,” she said. “When the janitor speaks, nobody listens.”