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- Aug 21, 2002
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My wife and three year old son and I went to the OB/GYN's office today for our first pregancy checkup. While the doctor was examining my wife, my three year old went over to the medical waste can, and finding the foot pedal curious, he stepped on it. When the lid popped open, it startled him and somehow he bumped into it or hit it or something. Anyway, he recieved two small cust on his hand from the can. They looked like two small paper cuts.
This was a typical stainless steel medical hazardous waste can with a red waste bag inside. None of us could tell on what part of the can he cut himself, as he and the can are shorter than the examination table, and all of us were on the other side of it. My guess is that he cut himself on the sharp edge of the lid, but we simply didn't see exactly what happened.
We cleaned the cuts with regular hand soap and then with purell (which burned and made him cry), but my wife and I are still freaking out.
Should we be worried at all, and if so, about what? It was a 4:00 pm appointment, so the can was pretty full of waste by then.
I've tried to console myself with the following:
He cut himself on the lid, not on a syringe, for instance. The can is stainless steel. Presumably nothing could live on that for very long, right? The odds that anything was actually on the part of the lid or can that he cut himself on are pretty small. And, even if, god forbit, our 3 year old was infected with anything, there are many many more types of innocuous things to be infected with than absolutely horrible things, right (like Hep C, HIV, etc.)?
Anyway, we are still freaking out and don't know what to do. Should we be doing something?
I'm posting this on a few forums so as to get good coverage.
Judd
This was a typical stainless steel medical hazardous waste can with a red waste bag inside. None of us could tell on what part of the can he cut himself, as he and the can are shorter than the examination table, and all of us were on the other side of it. My guess is that he cut himself on the sharp edge of the lid, but we simply didn't see exactly what happened.
We cleaned the cuts with regular hand soap and then with purell (which burned and made him cry), but my wife and I are still freaking out.
Should we be worried at all, and if so, about what? It was a 4:00 pm appointment, so the can was pretty full of waste by then.
I've tried to console myself with the following:
He cut himself on the lid, not on a syringe, for instance. The can is stainless steel. Presumably nothing could live on that for very long, right? The odds that anything was actually on the part of the lid or can that he cut himself on are pretty small. And, even if, god forbit, our 3 year old was infected with anything, there are many many more types of innocuous things to be infected with than absolutely horrible things, right (like Hep C, HIV, etc.)?
Anyway, we are still freaking out and don't know what to do. Should we be doing something?
I'm posting this on a few forums so as to get good coverage.
Judd
