Cancer patient was ‘awake’ when alcohol wipe helped cause his face to catch fire during surgery: suit

An Oregon cancer patient was “awake and conscious” when his face caught on fire during surgery — leaving him permanently disfigured, according to his family’s $900,000 lawsuit.

John Michael Murdoch went to Oregon Health & Science University to undergo a tracheostomy — to install a breathing hole in his neck — in December 2022 as part of a treatment plan for squamous cell carcinoma, or tongue cancer.

Staff sterilized Murdoch’s face with isopropyl alcohol to prepare for the procedure, but the substance hadn’t fully dried when a surgical tool sparked and caught aflame, the suit, filed by Murdoch’s wife Toni alleges.

Toni filed suit against the hospital, Dr. Adam Howard and unnamed surgical staff members for medical malpractice last month.

Murdoch, 52, succumbed to the disease roughly six months later in June 2023 but he’d never fully healed from the traumatic and disfiguring incident by the time he died, the suit claims.

“It never should have happened,” Murdoch family lawyer Ron Cheng told the Oregonian. 

Cheng said while Murdoch had difficulty speaking at the time, he was able to express to his wife the suffering and trauma the burns caused him in his last months.

The tool used during Murdoch’s procedure had a history of throwing off sparks and that combined with oxygen and the wet alcohol created the “fire triangle” — or oxygen, ignition source and fuel — Cheng and the suit claim.

It is estimated that there are around 90 to 100 surgical fires yearly in the US, the outlet reported, citing Emergency Care Research Institute.

“Perfect conditions exist for fire in the [operating room],” the American College of Surgeons says, adding that medical staff must “become vigilant” to prevent them from happening.

Howard first got his medical license in 2022 but the license lapsed as of January 2024 in Oregon, the outlet reported. He’s still listed on the hospital’s website as an instructor but West Virginia University listed him on their website in a post from November 2023.

A spokesperson with Oregon Health & Science University said: “In light of patient privacy laws and pending litigation, OHSU cannot comment on this case.”

Cheng didn’t return a request for comment.