A couple of days after a similar, horrific incident in Florida, a man undergoing routine surgery in a Grays Harbor County hospital had a fire erupt on his face while he was under anesthesia. He suffered burns to his face and head.
Tommy Beams was rushed to Harborview Medical Center after the accident last Thursday at Grays Harbor Community Hospital. He was undergoing a one-hour procedure to remove a bump from his head when he believes his oxygen mask caught fire.
“The physical pain is tremendous,” he said. “My lips, my face ... on fire.”
Beams said he believes the cauterizing tool used in the surgery caused a spark and that, in turn, ignited the oxygen in his oxygen mask. Beams said doctors have told him it could take more than a year for his burns to heal.
“It’s just surreal, to see skin melted off your face, and look in the mirror and see chunks of skin hanging from your face, it's not a pretty sight,” he said. “I don't even really know how to describe the feeling of being burned, other than it hurts, it brings me to tears on a daily basis.”
Marilyn Heger-Guy, a vice president at Grays Harbor Community Hospital, said the surgical procedure that was being carried out on Beams is done hundreds of times a year without incident, and that there is an investigation to try to find out what went wrong in Beams’ case.
“When something like this happens, it is a very big deal for the whole hospital ... What happened, why it happened, and how to prevent it from happening again,” she said.
A similar disaster occurred last week in Florida. A 29-year-old mother went into the Crestview Surgery Center in northern Florida to have a cyst removed from her head when a fire broke out during the procedure. She, too, suffered burns over her face and head.
“I thought I was a monster, really,” victim Kim Grice said afterward. “I don't like the way I look right now and I'm afraid to show my kids … I’m afraid to show them what happened to their mom.”
Beams said he can understand; he feels the same way.
“It needs to be fixed,” he said. “It shouldn't be happening to people, that's what I want people to know.”
