The staff at Anne Arundel Medical Center considered canceling some surgeries on a recent weekend because the hospital was running low on a common drug used to help bring people out from under anesthesia.
It is the kind of problem hospitals and doctors around the country continue to face as drug shortages that began a few years ago threaten the way everyday medicine is practiced.
The problem has persisted even after calls from Congress and President Barack Obama to find a solution and a federal investigation that found widespread abuses in the drug manufacturing and distribution system. Maryland lawmakers are jumping into the fray with plans to introduce legislation to tackle the issue at the state level.
On Tuesday, the Joint Committee on Health Care Delivery and Finance held a hearing to gather insights on what role the state could play.
Dr. Barry Meisenberg, chair of quality improvement and health systems research at Anne Arundel Medical Center, said the shortages force doctors to make tough decisions on how to treat patients. The hospital decided not to cancel surgeries that weekend, but Meisenberg said the issue was real.
"I used this as an example of how serious this has become," Meisenberg said.