Keith Bullock

My name is Keith Bullock. I am here to tell you what happened to me. I underwent a routine arthroscopic surgery at Norwalk Hospital on September 15th 2005. During that hospitalization I acquired MRSA, Methicillin Resistant Staphyllococcus Aureus.

I was supposed to recuperate for a week and return to work, but instead, I faced six weeks of intravenous antibiotic treatment and two weeks of oral treatment. My right knee remained a mess. I required a long course of physical therapy.

Think of the cost in time and money and suffering! Think of what could have been avoided with the proper infection control! One antibiotic was $155 a dose. The other was $105.00 per day. And the physical therapy fees were well over $5,000. But that doesn’t begin to count my personal losses.

I am a single father of three children. I worked for a company that provides meals at schools. If I couldn’t stand, I couldn’t work. So, I lost my job. I was able to receive disability, $170.00 a week from my job but that is not enough to raise three children

The pain was enormous and the physical therapy was rough. But the worry about providing for my family and their worry for me has been greater than the pain.

This experience has made me an activist. This should not have happened to me. I think that you will agree that if you go into the hospital to be treated, it is reasonable to expect that the experience should not make you sick, take away your livelihood and possibly threaten your life

I also think that if you acquire an infection there, legislation should require that the affected individual be compensated. I can see that this legislation does not do that. But there is something really wrong with this system; before my surgery,

I had to sign a release that said if I acquired an infection, the hospital could not be held responsible. But if they are not going to be held accountable, at the very least, they have to let the public know their infection rates.

This is a first step in making hospitals and doctors accountable and responsible to the consumer. I would like to see a healthcare system that admits mistakes and provides compensation. But until that happens, we are going to have to be here to appeal to you.

Year after year, we will be asking you to pass legislation to require the measures that our healthcare providers should already have taken to save lives, suffering and money.