LA hospital puts some surgeries on hold after mold found

A huge Los Angeles hospital has put all elective surgeries on hold after discovering mold contamination in a room used to sterilize surgical equipment.

The Los Angeles Times reports that the 600-bed Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center will be unable to perform non-emergency surgeries for about two weeks.

The hospital's chief medical officer, Brad Spellberg says the facility's central sterile processing room has suffered severe water damage and mold contamination. Health officials say it was believed to have been caused by a water leak.

Spellberg had halted non-elective surgeries.

He says the hospital remains capable of disinfecting enough equipment to treat trauma cases.

Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center is relatively new.

It was relocated from its old Depression-era building in 2008 to a new, 1.02-billion- dollar facility.