A mix-up at Butler Memorial Hospital resulted in some patients being injected with a narcotic seven times more powerful than the one prescribed by their doctors.
That claim is according to a recently released report by the Pennsylvania Health Department.
The mix-up happened in August. Syringes that were prefilled with the painkiller Dilaudid were mistakenly placed by a staff member in a dispenser that was partially filled with morphine sulfate. That led to 18 doses of Dilaudid administered to patients instead of morphine sulfate.
The report states that a plan of correction was filed by the hospital, as required by state and federal regulations.
Hospital officials confirmed to us that the incident did indeed happen. They released a statement to us from Dr. Thomas McGill, who is Vice President of Safety & Quality and Dr. David Rottinghaus, Medical Director of the Emergency Department.
“The reported incident happened. When it did, we immediately contacted the PA Department of Health, and we immediately reviewed all available information regarding patients who may have been impacted. The review revealed nothing to indicate that anyone was harmed in any way. We were alarmed by this unfortunate incident, and it has prompted us to examine every aspect of our medication distribution and administration process for opportunities to improve. The PA Department of Health returned as recently as Friday, October 30, for follow up review and confirmation that our process improvement has been satisfactory. They were satisfied with their findings, and had no further recommendations for improvement.”
Again, no patients were harmed due to the mistake, according to both the health department report and hospital officials.
Photo by NathanF
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