Patients were evacuated from the intensive care unit at Venice (Fla.) Regional Bayfront Health after a toilet overflowed in the ICU, according to a Herald-Tribune report.
Staff acted quickly in cleaning up the water, removing wet baseboards and drywall and disinfecting the rooms using ultraviolet light to prevent infection, according to the Herald-Tribune. They also walled off part of the unit so as to not disturb patients with the noise.
This is the second sewage problem at the Community Health Systems-owned hospital this year: A sewage leak occurred in the hospital's post-surgical orthopedic wing this summer, and a report from the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration found 13 violations of state and federal law in the hospital's handling of the leak.
This time around, Venice Regional voluntarily notified the Florida AHCA and the local health department, according to the Herald-Tribune.
Some hospital officials pointed to the facility's age as part of the sewage problem. The building is 60 years old, according to the report.
The sewage issues are not the only infection control-related troubles facing Venice Regional Bayfront Health. In Consumer Reports' 2015 ratings of hospital infection prevention, Venice Regional Bayfront made the list of 12 lowest-rated hospitals in infection prevention.