Prescribing error hospitalises elderly lady
Repeated failure to notice incorrect medication resulted in an elderly lady being admitted to hospital with dehydration.
Doris had been suffering from jaundice and was taken to her local hospital. She was there for a couple of days before being discharged with medication.
It was this medication that would cause Doris to be come ill. Upon her discharge she was given a bag of drugs by a nurse, Doris' daughter was with her at the time and asked the nurse what they were all for. The nurse went through them explaining each one. One was for the heart, which the daughter thought very strange as her mother did not have a heart problem. The nurse replied that in that case they must be for something else.
Not wanting to get the dosage wrong Doris' daughter wrote out each drug, dose and when to take them. In total the bag contained 6 drugs and 1 cream.
After taking just two of the tablets Doris' condition worsened. She was taken to her GP who inspected the bag of tablets and creams but found nothing unusual.
A few hours later Doris became severely dehydrated and violently ill. She was once again admitted to hospital. Her daughter handed over the medication she had been given on her last visit along with the notes she had made.
It was not until the consultant arrived and Doris' daughter showed concern about the medication that a prescription error was discovered.
The nurse who discharged Doris failed to check the prescription thoroughly. The GP then also failed to notice any irregularity. Although most of the tablets did not cause Doris any harm one left her seriously dehydrated which in an elderly person can be most severe. Luckily Doris' daughter had taken her to hospital immediately which meant she made a good recovery.
Doris' daughter approached the clinical negligence team as she was worried that the slipshod manner in which her mother's medication was dealt with would happen again.
The team investigated Doris' claim and were able to not only secure Doris compensation but also receive confirmation that the hospital were reviewing their procedures to ensure it wouldn't happen again.
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