The word "nosocomial" can be contrasted with "iatrogenic", which describes an infection, disease, etc., acquired from a doctor's treatment.

Nosocomial versus iatrogenic. Doctors may aggravate illness. But ancillary caregivers can also cause a lot of trouble. Some efficiency expert in hospital where I worked had idea that labor would be saved by no longer washing sheets on medical and surgical wards. So heavily fecally soiled sheets were thrown down the laundry chutes, and it was several years before some genius discovered that fecally coated laundry chutes were blasting bacterial aerosols into wards every time chutes were used.

Goodness, Bill, you're posting "below the fold!!" I didn't mean to suggest that you go to such depths....

"below the fold!!"

...but will the infection spread?

one of my subscribers suggested the word 'nosoconial' to me, under the misguided(!) impression that he had found an obscure military term. this is by way of saying that we shouldn't be surprised that the only traffic here previously was the slightly misplaced (but ineluctably serendipitous) 'ballroom' thread.

There was an article in New England Journal of Medicine back in middle 50's about a situation that combined nosocomial and iatrogenic. A search for source of infections with a particular strain of antibiotic resistant staphylococcus in Mass General revealed that an anesthetist was a rectal carrier, and in passing flatus in OR had spread aerosols of the bacteria. I have wondered how his ostracism from OR might have been made unnecessary. Perhaps an astronaut suit.

I'm a newcomer here, so please tolerate my redundancy if a similar response has already been posted.

Correction: "iatrogenic" means caused by healing or curing processes, not caused by doctors. It is a common misconception that doctors do the healing, when, in hospitals most definitely, and often in other settings, healing is facilitated by the actions of many others. The most numerous "others" are nurses, who come in all shapes and forms, from nurse assistants to PhD researchers. (And, of course, ultimately healing is effected by our own bodies, not the actions of others.)

Welcome! You will find the cure effected by this establishment is completely unique, and probably far worse than the illness you bring here...

Tell us more, 'cause I am otherwise just relying on standard look-up:
i·at·ro·gen·ic (ī-ăt'rə-jĕn'ĭk)
adj.
Induced in a patient by a physician's activity, manner, or therapy. Used especially of an infection or other complication of treatment.
i·at'ro·gen'i·cal·ly adv.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition Copyright © 1992, 1996 by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Ooops.....I'd always thought the Greek root iatr referred to healing, but apparently not:
From Merriam-Webster:

One entry found for iatrogenic.

Main Entry: iat·ro·gen·ic
Pronunciation: (")I-"a-tr&-'je-nik
Function: adjective
Etymology: Greek iatros physician + English -genic
Date: 1924
: induced inadvertently by a physician or surgeon or
by medical treatment or diagnostic procedures <an
iatrogenic rash>
- iat·ro·gen·i·cal·ly /-'je-ni-k(&-)lE/ adverb

I guess this lets us nurses off the hook.

And when an iatrogenic disease occurs, guess who gets sued.

"And when an iatrogenic disease occurs, guess who gets sued."

Everybody!

BWAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAA

You are so right. There's a fundamental injustice in suing the physician when so many others are involved in the care of the individual. Only occasionally is an injury attributable to a single indiviudal, but of course, truth and justice are not necessarily what the malpractice lawyer is seeking. This is one of my personal pet peeves (AKA ppp's).

Although, let me add, in an even further digression from the topic of the thread, that physicians themselves have contributed to this state of affairs by insisting upon the "captain of the ship" model of leadership versus a more collaborative model wherein the contributions of others are valued and widely acknowledged.

my personal pet peeves (AKA ppp's)

teresag, if you do a search on this board for 'pet peeves' you may learn a new word that will come in handy.

below the panniculus

Adiposus or carnosus?