(Image source: NYDailyNews) 

BY ERICA COGHILL

ANCHOR CHRISTINA HARTMAN

Remember that Grey’s Anatomy episode where a patient caught on fire during surgery? The same thing actually happened to a Florida woman on Tuesday.

WXIN has the scoop...

“The 29-year-old mother of three was having cysts removed from her head when the accident happened.  Doctor’s don’t know for sure what caused the fire but say electricity, heat and lasers may have sparked the flames in the operation room, which is filled with oxygen.”

Kim Grace’s head caught on fire while having the surgery at the North Okaloosa Medical Center in Crestview, Florida.

And while the possibility of a “surgical slip?” like this might come as a surprise to many, NBC reports it happens more than you might think.

“Four years ago, 20-year-old Lauren Wargo went in for a simple out patient procedure to have a mole removed, but that simple surgery changed her life forever...she woke up from surgery to searing pains and second degree burns on her face and much of her neck.”

“Lauren is not alone... an estimated 650 surgical fires occur every year, but experts think the actual number is higher than that because only 27 states are obligated to report them.”

So how exactly does something like this happen?  In 2007, Providence’s WNAC looked into it...

“Here’s a simulation showing what can go wrong.  It’s called the fire triangle.  Oxygen used in anesthesia, plus flammable surgical drapes and gowns, combined with a single spark from surgical tools, can equal disaster.”

While surgical fires are rare, there has been an increase in them.

And because of that increase, ABC News reports the FDA has launched some preventative steps.

“In October, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration launched an initiative to curb surgical fires through increasing awareness and promoting risk reduction practices.”

Doctors are treating Kim Grice in the South Alabama Medical Center’s burn unit.