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Medical Assisting 01/15/2013
Medical Law and Ethics News Report #3
Tootsie’s Story: Medical Error Takes a Life
Sources and date of report: www.rwjf.org/ Feb 6, 2013
Main Gist of the Report: Just over about a year ago, a beloved elderly women past, due to complications from a medical error. Tootsie lived very independently and managed her underlying congestive heart failure and one kidney. She had bilateral cataracts and also used a portable oxygen tank. One day Tootsie was found short of breath and her heart racing. She visited a local hospital and found that, due to a medical error, she had been overdosing on Synthroid for the previous two weeks. Somewhere between her doctor’s medication order and what as placed in the prescription bottle, Tootsie’s dosage was drastically incorrect. Six cardio versions, a stay in the intensive care unit, and multiple consultations, her heart had been over worked for two weeks. Resulting into sending her into irreversible congestive heart failure, fluid imbalance, kidney failure, pneumonia and anemia. In the final five months of her life, she had six hospital admissions, three intensive care unit stays, six to the Emergency room, a cardiac catheterization, several chest X-rays, EKG’s, and blood tests. As she struggled in her final days, she had no interest in suing the provider or pharmacy behind her initial overdose. All she wanted was for her story to be told, so others could avoid similar missteps.
Impact on Me: This news report impacts me as a student because I am disappointed in the crucial mistake that the doctor/pharmacist made. Physicians should be more aware of what and how much they prescribe to their patients. Where the decimal point is placed and where each number is placed makes a great impact in the
Medical Law and Ethics News Report #3
Tootsie’s Story: Medical Error Takes a Life
Sources and date of report: www.rwjf.org/ Feb 6, 2013
Main Gist of the Report: Just over about a year ago, a beloved elderly women past, due to complications from a medical error. Tootsie lived very independently and managed her underlying congestive heart failure and one kidney. She had bilateral cataracts and also used a portable oxygen tank. One day Tootsie was found short of breath and her heart racing. She visited a local hospital and found that, due to a medical error, she had been overdosing on Synthroid for the previous two weeks. Somewhere between her doctor’s medication order and what as placed in the prescription bottle, Tootsie’s dosage was drastically incorrect. Six cardio versions, a stay in the intensive care unit, and multiple consultations, her heart had been over worked for two weeks. Resulting into sending her into irreversible congestive heart failure, fluid imbalance, kidney failure, pneumonia and anemia. In the final five months of her life, she had six hospital admissions, three intensive care unit stays, six to the Emergency room, a cardiac catheterization, several chest X-rays, EKG’s, and blood tests. As she struggled in her final days, she had no interest in suing the provider or pharmacy behind her initial overdose. All she wanted was for her story to be told, so others could avoid similar missteps.
Impact on Me: This news report impacts me as a student because I am disappointed in the crucial mistake that the doctor/pharmacist made. Physicians should be more aware of what and how much they prescribe to their patients. Where the decimal point is placed and where each number is placed makes a great impact in the