SEATTLE -- Hospitals aren't supposed to make you sicker. But here in Washington state, many patients actually get sicker after becoming infected with sometimes deadly diseases while in the hospital.

Susan Cook and her son are spending a sunny spring day building a path in her Bremerton backyard.

Cook enjoys being outside -- especially since two years ago, she was bedridden for weeks following what she thought would be a routine surgery that would require a hospital stay of two or three days.

"I did come home in about two and a half days, and within 48 hours, I was running 103-degree fever and incoherent and I knew something was wrong," she said.

Something was terribly wrong. While in the hospital, she became infected with a type of bacteria that is resistant to antibiotics. So she was put on the most powerful bacteria-fighting drug now available.

"Vancomyacin was the last resort. I guess it's really strong and toxic, can only be given intravenously, and I was on that constantly for six weeks."

"We're seeing an increase in antibiotic-resistant bacteria," said Dr. Timothy Dellit, the Director of Infection Control at Harborview Medical Center.

Dellit says 2 million people are infected in the nation's hospitals every year -- people who expected to get better, not sicker when they came in for treatment.

That's because hospitals contain a lot of sick patients, and their illnesses are easily passed to others, creating a huge problem.

The biggest villain: unwashed hands.

Hands can be a powerful breeding ground for deadly bacteria. A staggering number can thrive on the just the tip of a finger.

"Anywhere from 10,000 to a million bacteria per cubic centimeter, an area the size of a quarter," he said.

And yet, studies from the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta show fully 60 percent of doctors and other health care workers fail to wash their hands between each patient.

"It may get busy -- they're doing multi-tasking -- sometimes they simply get carried away from one activity to another and unfortunately forget, or they feel that they don't have the time."

In a dramatic demonstration, the nursing school at the University of Washington showed us how effective hand washing is in removing bacteria. Under ultraviolet light, the nurse's unwashed hands look mottled and discolored. Look at the difference after she thoroughly cleans them.

Failing to wash adequately can have fatal consequences: federal studies indicate that hospital infections are getting worse, and more deadly.

"About one out of 20 patients will get an infection while they're in the hospital, and 90,000 people every year die from infections. That's more than homicides and car accidents combined," said Lisa McGiffert of Consumers Union.

Consumers Union is on a nationwide campaign to require hospitals to make their infection rates public -- both to help patients decide which hospital to choose for their care, and to give hospitals more incentive to reduce infections.

Right now, only 16 states require some kind of reporting, and Washington is not yet one of them.

"It is something the public wants to know."

Dr. Dellit doesn't oppose public reporting of hospital infections, so long as a major trauma hospital like Harborview isn't compared unfairly with a low-risk community hospital.

"Comparing one hospital to another may be like comparing apples and oranges," Dellit said.

Susan Cook says she isn't political, but she supports public reporting of hospital infections if it helps keep even one patient from suffering what she went through.

"It took me a long time. I still feel I'm not back to my original condition after that surgery."

After our investigation into hospital infections began earlier this year, the state legislature decided to act.

Last week, Gov. Chris Gregoire signed a bill into law that will begin to require hospitals in our state to make public their infection rates.

However, the reporting requirements are initially limited to certain kinds of infection and the first reports won't be made available until 2009.