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For Immediate Release

For more information, contact:
David Kanihan
612-262-4986
Cell: 612-867-2845

Statement about incident involving infant at Mercy Hospital

COON RAPIDS, Minn. 01/23/2008--At Mercy Hospital, our mission is to provide exceptional care. We are committed to the highest standards of safety and quality in the care we provide and we are proud of our outstanding record of safety and quality. Despite our extraordinary commitment to safety, accidents happen.

On the morning of Tuesday, January 22, a highly unusual, isolated incident occurred at Mercy Hospital. An investigation is ongoing.

Events like this are extraordinarily rare. Nothing like this has occurred at any Allina facility within memory, and we are unaware of any other hospital experiencing such an event.

The facts of the event, as we know them and are at liberty to share, are as follows:

• An infant was in an open-topped bassinet under a warmer, and was using an oxygen hood, a device fitted over the face to supply additional oxygen.
• For reasons unknown at this time, something within the oxygen-enriched environment of the bassinet ignited. Nursing staff were with the baby at the time, and the flame was put out immediately.
• Health privacy laws prevent us from sharing the infant's condition.
• No other patients, nurses or other staff were injured.
• The infant was subsequently transferred to another facility for further care.

Mercy Hospital officials are working with the Coon Rapids and Minnesota state fire departments to investigate the cause of this incident, and evaluate the equipment being used. We are also in touch with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Our investigation to date suggests that this was an isolated incident. We are working to understand the cause and will take precautionary measures.

Allina Hospitals & Clinics is committed to doing everything possible to understand the cause of this event, and to prevent anything like it from happening again. Our thoughts are with the infant and the parents and we are all hopeful for a quick recovery.

About Mercy Hospital

Mercy Hospital, located in Coon Rapids, Minn., is a 271-bed non-profit hospital that serves the northwestern Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area. The hospital is part of Allina Hospitals & Clinics, a not-for-profit health care system of hospitals, clinics and other patient care services that provides exceptional care to communities throughout Minnesota and western Wisconsin and employs more than 22,000 people.

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