In March, this blog discussed medical negligence issues surrounding wrong site surgeries. Among the surgical error issues under the umbrella of wrong site surgeries is the issue of performing surgery on the wrong patient altogether. Unfortunately, Tucson medical malpractice lawyers are aware that wrong patient issues can arise in other areas, outside the operating room.
A recent lawsuit in the Southern U.S. highlights the horrible dangers a patient can be exposed to when medical personnel make an identification mistake during the care of patients. The recent lawsuit says that a nurse misidentified a patient in administering a powerful medication.
Medication errors can cause great harm, and in the recent lawsuit the husband of a former patient says that the nurse's negligence resulted in the death of his wife, who was being treated at the hospital for shortness of breath and chest pains.
The woman had shared a room with a cancer patient at the hospital. The roommate apparently had asked for pain medication. But the man bringing the medical malpractice, wrongful death lawsuit says the nurse entered and administered the powerful drug to the wrong patient in the room.
According to the lawsuit, the women who wrongfully received the powerful painkiller "developed difficulty breathing which progressed quickly to acute respiratory failure." The woman died ten days later. The case has been filed in Tennessee, where Nashville's WTVF-TV reports that no autopsy was ever performed on the patient who died.
The hospital reportedly has not commented on the alleged medication error and the local television station says that attempts to contact the hospital for comments on the case were not successful.
Source: WTVF-TV Newschannel 5, "Lawsuit Claims Hospital Injected Wrong Patient With Painkiller," Nick Beres, May 16, 2012
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