Hospital patient dies after being given wrong blood

SARASOTA - Officials at Sarasota Memorial Hospital acknowledge that a woman was infused with the wrong type of blood, yet are not saying the mistake led to her death.

The woman, whose identity, age or day of death were not released by hospital officials, died late last month. Dr. Duncan Finlay, the hospital's chief executive, said Friday the woman died about a day after receiving the erroneous transfusion, which happened because a blood sample was mislabeled.

"It was a medical error, but we don't know if it was the cause of death," Finlay said.

Hospital staffers realized something was wrong when the woman began reacting adversely to the transfusion, Finlay said. Such a mistake isn't always fatal; the director of Suncoast Communities Blood Bank, Mark Magenheim, said about 60 percent of people who receive the wrong blood type wouldn't exhibit any problematic symptoms.

Rarer still is actually getting the wrong type of blood. The Association of periOperative Registered Nurses said such mistakes account for about a dozen deaths each year.

Hospital spokesman Mike Vizvary said administrators have not taken action against anyone involved in the mistake. An internal investigation into the incident is continuing, Vizvary said.

In March, the hospital mistakenly performed a heart catheterization on another patient, an incident that Finlay insisted did that patient no harm. The mistake was made because no one compared the patient's wrist identification bracelet to the patient's chart.

Heart catheterization is a generally routine procedure that involves using a catheter to insert dye into arteries to detect blockages.

Having two high-profile mistakes occur within a relatively short time span doesn't look good, said the hospital's marketing director Lyn Cassan.

"Everyone's concerned about the timing," Cassan said.

[Last modified July 17, 2004, 23:36:24]