P-B HUMIDIFIER/VENTILATOR DID NOT CAUSE FIRE AT MAIMONIDES MEDICAL CENTER
This article was originally published in The Gray Sheet
Executive Summary
P-B HUMIDIFIER/VENTILATOR DID NOT CAUSE FIRE AT MAIMONIDES MEDICAL CENTER, Wendell Hull & Associates said in a report on the Sept. 1 incident. Commissioned by Puritan-Bennett, the accident reconstruction and forensic consulting firm concluded that "detailed inspection of the physical evidence, review of all the currently available facts, results of flammability tests, and a detailed hazards analysis on the 7200 ventilator indicate that the Maimonides fire originated outside of the ventilator." Las Cruces, New Mexico-based WHA adds that the P-B Cascade humidifier attached to the ventilator was also "ruled out as being the cause and origin" of the fire.