Doctors and hospital workers may be banned from wearing neckties under New York state law
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Legislation that would forbid doctors and other hospital workers from wearing neckties in clinical settings, to reduce the transmission of germs, is being pushed by state Sen. Diane Savino and other members of the breakaway Democratic conference.
But Staten Island physicians oppose the move, saying there’s no hard evidence to show ties cause infections — and suggest the lawmakers should be concentrating on weightier health-care concerns.
“It’s ridiculous,” said Dr. Theodore Strange, vice president of medical operations for Staten Island University Hospital. “This is an example of where government gets too involved in people’s lives. We have many, many more important things that legislators should be worrying about, such as access to care, Medicaid and Medicare. To couch this under infection control, that is something that should be left up to hospitals and medical professionals.”
“Doctors usually wear lab coats with their ties tucked in and their lab coat buttoned,” said Dr. John Zafaranloo, who has an internal medicine practice in Dongan Hills. “It is not like a tie is touching a wound.”
The law would not only bar doctors from wearing ties, it would have them adopt a “bare below the elbow” policy, including having physicians forgo long white lab coats in favor of short sleeves and eschew wrist watches and other jewelry.
The lawmakers add that studies have “indicated” such items are “carriers for potentially deadly hospital-borne infections.”
Yet, Dr. Ivan Miller, chairman of the emergency department at Richmond University Medical Center, said, “There is a theoretical risk from neckties but no good evidence to prove that.”
The law would also mandate that physicians wear clean I.D. badges and ban them from wearing uniforms outside health care facilities, as well as require hospitals to provide an adequate supply of scrubs to ensure frequent changes.
Ms. Savino (D-North Shore/Brooklyn), and the three other members of the Independent Democratic Conference (IDC), said the law will “help save lives.”
“This is a very simple equation,” said Ms. Savino. “Adopting a hygienic dress code for medical professionals means less infections, less lawsuits [and] lower medical malpractice premiums.”
The IDC also said that health care facilities around the country “are grappling with serious infections … which are spread through hospital stays and are resistant to sterilization techniques.”
State Sen. Andrew Lanza (R-Staten Island) said his mother died from just such an infection during treatment in a Manhattan hospital for cancer. He said a hospital official later told him the hospital knew “there was a strong type of infection there that could leave immune systems compromised.”
“If we had known that,” said Lanza, “we would have taken her elsewhere.”
As such, Lanza and Assemblyman Michael Cusick (D-Mid-Island) are again co-sponsoring legislation that would require hospitals to notify patients “upon intake of reports of hospital-acquired infections.”
“We really need to get at the underlying causes and practices,” said Lanza, who opposes the Savino legislation. “I am not sure neckties are the way to go. There is always another layer of clothing. And lab coats are cleaned daily. Our law would require hospitals to publicly post all infections that they are dealing with at any given time.”
Meanwhile, the doctors said there is another factor that should be considered.
“I think a doctor should wear a shirt and tie,” said Dr. Zafaranloo. “It sets a professional standard.”
“Appearance is important,” said Dr. Strange. “Patients don’t want their doctors dressed too casually. For men, that means a necktie, which is tucked into a lab coat which is buttoned. We all know about appropriate techniques of gowning and lab coats just as we know about proper hand-washing.”
Quipped Miller: “Is anyone talking about bow ties?”
Sponsored Links
More stories in Staten Island Real-Time News
Only 1 killed in Osama bin Laden raid was armed, source says
There is a theoretical risk to individual liberty from Nanny State thinking, and lots of good evidence to prove that.
Go away, Ms. Savino. And shame on you, Lanza, for not calling out this proposed legislation for what it is. It’s “Republicans” such as you who have shied away from standing on principles who’ve sold this country down the river.
The problem are lawmakers who have no training in medicine, microbiology, immunology or pathology proposing legislation on one piece of biased research.
Most diseases in hospital are spread air-born, why not legislate physicians and nurses having to hold their breath during their shifts, It will go much further in preventing hospital born-infections then whether or not ties are present.
Perhaps as a start, these types of rules should be taken out of the hands of attorneys and career politicians who come off looking poorly , and uninformed. Perhaps we need to look at the credentialing standards that must be met in order to run for office.
no one should be surprised at this. They have taken away simple rights from people, like smoking in the park. I have posted here before about these dumb and idiotic laws being passed but nobody gets it. This is the start of every single right of ours being taken from us. Whether its smoking, or wearing a particular type of clothing, it starts small and then will escalate into bigger things. You cant smoke in your own home in certain places, you cant say certain words because of political correctness. Wait until the next legislation comes out. Mark my words, it wont be long people. Just wait and see. This is how socialism begins. Id bet my life on it.
Sounds like these politicians are a little bored…
Let’s give them something better to do.
Since they want to volunteer their clearly empty time schedules to try to do things that of complete and utter irrelevance, let them volunteer outside and help the DOT fix up pot holes.
Having experienced a relative going into a hospital for a broken wrist, and then dying several weeks later from MRSA and ARDS, I do not find the legislation ridiculous. Bacterial infections are rampant in hospitals and if this measure reduces the chance of infection it is worth while. Any measure taken to protect a patient is worth the effort.
Let’s not forget 85% of MRSA is community acquired, 15% is hospital acquired. Don’t leave your home, go shopping, fill your car with gas, etc.., because then you will expose yourself to MRSA. As far as the ties whatever no big deal. But the no whitecoat rule? This will spread more infections, they are used to prevent spread of infections to physicians and patients, but of course a non medically trained politician wouldn’t know that. Im not treating a patient without sleeves that’s exposing myself and my family to infections and it violates federal infection control policies but of course savino wouldnt know that either
You must accept the terms of service before you can post a comment.
Post a comment
Sign in to SILive.com
Don’t have an account?
Register now for free, or sign in with any of these services:
More Staten Island Real-Time News
| Most Comments | Most Recent |
Most Active Users
Users We Love
SILive.com users love to upload photos that show a variety of things including breaking news, high school sports or a celebration. But others take it a step further and upload a video of something they encountered. SILive.com user oldmanjose…
Popular Tags
Leave a Reply
In The News
Doctors and hospital workers may be banned from wearing neckties under New York state law
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Legislation that would forbid doctors and other hospital workers from wearing neckties in clinical settings, to reduce the transmission of germs, is being pushed by state Sen. Diane Savino and other members of the breakaway Democratic conference. But Staten Island physicians oppose the move, saying there’s no hard evidence to show [...]
More important issues being taken on by Savino. What a dimwit
Reply Post new