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The doctor told Marilyn Smith it would take six to eight weeks to heal from her upcoming hip replacement. That surgery was performed on Jan.16, 2003, at Bridgeport Hospital.

The 59-year-old Guilford woman is still waiting to heal.

While in the hospital, she acquired the bacterial infection Streptopeptus. It caused her artificial hip to dislocate requiring a replacement. Again and again. She said she’s had no recourse. No one wants to own up to it.

“Neither the hospital or doctors took responsibility," said an ailing Smith. “I understand that mistakes are made and I’m a nurse. But I think it’s the lack of cleanliness."

She wants to get her hands on hospital infection rates -- she was in both Bridgeport and the Hospital of St. Raphael’s, where she said she also got a hospital-acquired infection that the hospital shrugged off as not its problem.

But the state keeps no such logs. Hospital infection rates are all clumped together.

Enter Jean Rexford (in photo at top of the story). The executive director of the Connecticut Center for Patient Safety in Hartford. She wants to force the state to keep track of individual hospital’s infection rates. She's backing Senate Bill 160 , introduced this session, aimed at doing just that.

“We show the human side of medical errors," said Rexford.

Specifically, the legislation would require the Department of Public Health to add hospital-acquired infections to the list of things hospitals are required to report, such as patient falls, suicide, wrong-side surgery, death or significant injury of patient or staff caused by assault.

“The public needs to know the cleanest, safest hospitals," said Rexford. “We want the hospitals to be named. There’s no more hiding behind aggregate data." She said hospital-acquired infections are “very underreported."

“We want the public to know by 2008 the hospital infection rates," she said. “The statistics are alarming." She said the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates 90,000 Americans die each year from these infections.

“This would indicate that there are three people in Connecticut each day" who die this way, said Rexford. The stats do not include infection rates in nursing homes. “I shudder to think," she said.

Another 1.9 million Americans get an infection while in the hospital that they don’t die from, but need anywhere from one-30 extra days in the hospital, Rexford said. That adds roughly $5 billion to the U.S. health-care tab each year.

“I don’t understand a lot of it," she continued. “The infections are so pervasive. Studies show hospitals can reduce infection rates by up to 70 percent by hand washing. It’s a huge thing."

Rexford said she’s gotten a lot of support from health-care activists in getting the bill passed.

One supporter she definitely doesn’t have is the Connecticut Hospital Association.

“Generally the whole issue of hospital infections is so important to the hospital association. Of course, this is a tremendous issue. It’s of concern to every hospital," said Jennifer Barrows, communications director for the association.

But SB160 isn’t the right way to go, she said.

“The reason we’re not supportive right now to SB 160 is that it doesn’t provide meaningful information. Just because a hospital reports out some infection rates, it’s not meaningful because there are no national standards," said Barrows. “If hospitals reported specific infection rates it wouldn’t help patients. You can’t compare all hospitals the same. You can’t make apples to apples comparison unless you have standards in place."

She also disagreed with Rexford that three Connecticut patients die every day from hospital infections. “It’s a leap to me. It’s not an extrapolation I would make," said Barrows. “The fact that infections happen is an unfortunate thing."

Smith’s Trips

The bill would help people like Marilyn Smith make more informed choices when hospital shopping.

After her first hip replacement in 2003, she said the wound would not heal. It eventually dislocated.

“The pain was incredible. Absolutely incredible," she said. She returned to Bridgeport Hospital where it was put back in place. “But I was still draining," said Smith. That’s when it was discovered she had Streptopeptus. Unable to keep the infection under control, Smith underwent six more hip replacements.

At St. Raphael’s, she said she acquired an infection called MRSA after getting one of the replacements. “They came to my room and said, 'Sorry, we have to put you in a private room because you have MRSA in your hip,’" said Smith. She was told she needed the most sterile environment possible. She said it was believed she became infected in the operating room. (St. Raphael's declined repeated requests for comment.)

She’s still suffering today and is considering taking legal action against Bridgeport and St. Raphael’s hospitals.

“I’m going to talk to my attorney. I can’t do anything. I can walk with a walker but the pain is tremendous," said Smith. She said a physical therapist comes to her home on a regular basis.

At St. Raphael’s, she said, “they just shrugged their shoulders. They blame it on the HMOs. There’s not enough help, not enough cleaning. There’s not enough money."

In addition to the physical and emotional pain, there’s also the wallet pain. Her hip replacement was to cost between $10,000 and $15,000. Smith is on Medicare, which covers most of that cost. However, because there were so many surgeries the bill toppled $100,000 and Smith is on the hook for 10 percent.

“I don’t have $10,000. No," said. Smith, who uses Fentanyl patches for the pain.