Patent ID: 8088291

Claim:
A method of collecting medical waste in a waste collection unit having a waste inlet for receiving the medical waste, said method comprising the steps of: providing a disposable manifold and filter assembly including: a manifold housing having a manifold bottom wall and a manifold peripheral wall, the manifold housing defining a chamber and at least one inlet; a neck disposed on the manifold bottom wall and extending downwardly therefrom to define at least one outlet; and a filter basket mounted in the chamber between the at least one inlet and the at least one outlet, the filter basket having a basket bottom wall with a first plurality of openings and a basket peripheral wall with a second plurality of openings spaced a predetermined distance from the first plurality of openings to define an imperforate wall section between the first and second plurality of openings, the basket bottom wall being spaced from the manifold bottom wall and the basket peripheral wall being spaced from the manifold peripheral wall to define a fluid bypass between the manifold housing and the filter basket; inserting the neck of the disposable manifold and filter assembly into the waste inlet of the waste collection unit to direct the medical waste passing through the disposable manifold and filter assembly into the waste collection unit; connecting at least one tube to the at least one inlet of the manifold housing to provide a path for the medical waste to travel from a target site to the disposable manifold and filter assembly; and drawing a vacuum in the waste collection unit to pull the medical waste through the at least one tube and into the disposable manifold and filter assembly where the medical waste is processed in a plurality of stages including a first stage in which the medical waste is filtered through the first plurality of openings in the basket bottom wall until the basket bottom wall becomes plugged with filtered-out material and the medical waste rises the predetermined distance defined by the imperforate wall section to the second plurality of openings, a second stage, following the first stage, in which the medical waste is filtered through the second plurality of openings in the basket peripheral wall until the basket peripheral wall becomes plugged with filtered-out material and the medical waste rises to the fluid bypass, and a third stage, following the second stage, in which the medical waste enters the fluid bypass to bypass the filter basket.