State regulators and the Detroit Medical Center have agreed to bring in a consultant to ensure that surgical instruments are clean and sterile.
The medical center will pay for the consultant, who will file reports with the state every 10 days on fixing violations, although the reports won't be available to the public.
DMC has admitted that unclean surgical tools had sometimes forced doctors to delay procedures, including heart surgery on a 7-month-old girl, although it insists that no one was harmed. The problems were reported in August by The Detroit News.
The consultant will be picked by the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs.
Jahan Azizi, an expert on cleaning medical instruments, says the new step means the state wants DMC "to get its act together."
