Who will protect American hospital patients from flowers?

Medication errors, ventilator problems, improper appendix removal ... so many things can go wrong in the hospital. But the risks posed by cheery get-well-soon bouquets had thus far escaped our attention.

To the rescue is popflowershop.com: "Stale, dirty vase water houses dangerous bugs, water-borne viruses and even risks electric shock near medical equipment. Buds emit harsh respiratory allergens and air-borne disease. The rotting, sulfuric smells of withering bouquets send the elderly into coughing fits. Pop Flower Shop, a company that offers 100% hypoallergenic and fragrance-free bouquets, has seen an increase in demand for their floral alternatives, due to this recent health risk realization."

The e-mail from the company, which offers "everlasting flowers," states that many United Kingdom hospitals have forbidden the fated-to-wilt kind of bouquets. Could this be true?

Sure enough:

This from Scotland: Hospital flowers nipped in the bud by NHS hygiene police

And this from Jersey (not the New one, the European one): Hospital wards off flowers

Maybe we should all check into those hospitals. The staffs there have apparently managed to eliminate medication errors and the like and have moved on to other risks....

Here in California, meanwhile, we're still pondering the potential for improper appendix removal: About 100 Californians a month are being harmed in adverse events considered preventable.
 
-- Tami Dennis

Photo: They only seem benign. Credit: Bob Carey / Los Angeles Times