A British hospital patient suffered third-degree burns on his right buttock and hip when his electric warming blanket overheated. The hospital blames inattentive staff for resting an IV bag full of cold saline against a safety temperature sensor of the HotDog conductive fabric blanket. The temperature of the warming equipment, which can rise to 122 ?F in less than an hour, soared during the surgery.

Mike Wilcock underwent surgery to remove a kidney cyst at Maidstone Hospital in September 2012. But before he was discharged, he also required a skin graft to treat burns to his right buttock and hip, caused by the electric warming blanket placed on him during surgery.

During the procedure, an IV bag full of cold saline was touching the blanket's safety temperature sensor, used to control the temperature, rather than the patient's body, according to an account of the case, resulting in rapid and relentless overheating. Mr. Wilcock's burns were not discovered until he awoke in recovery.

The burns required extensive treatment and plastic surgery.

The hospital and its overseers have admitted a failure to uphold public safety laws that ensure patient protection, and the warming blankets are no longer in use. But prosecutors, noting the hospital's 8 warming-related infractions during the time the devices were used — including a lack of staff training, a previous patient burn and a failure to investigate incidents — pressed the court to fine the hospital between 200,000 and 300,000 pounds ($315,255 to $472,899). Mr. Wilcock has also filed a civil lawsuit.

Scott Augustine, MD, inventor of HotDog warming, says that the cold IV bag set off audible alarms and discontinued power to the device, but that staff repeatedly disabled the alarm and reset the controller — all while keeping the cold saline on the system's temperature sensor.

"We take Mr. Wilcock's injury very seriously. Nonetheless, the blame for this unfortunate injury lies solely with the hospital," says Dr. Augustine, noting that HotDog warming has been used in more than 2 million surgical cases around the world without a single injury attributed to the device. "Patient safety is our passion."

David Bernard