Podcast
Patient Loses Finger after Medication Error in ER
Feb 25, 2013
0:00
0:00
Duration: 10:04
This podcast is an episode of Case Studies (now MedMal Insider). You can find other episodes and subscribe using the links to the right.
A medication error in the ER from Harvard closed case files shines a light on fixes that might prevent another mistake: team training, better consultation, and even a “discharge time-out” to verify concerns and follow-up.
Subscribe to MedMal Insider
Sign up and keep up.
About the series
Even in the safest healthcare setting, things can go wrong. For more than 50 years, CRICO has analyzed MPL cases from the Harvard medical community. Join our experts as they unpack what occurred and the lessons learned for safer patient care from the causes of these errors.
Episodes
Recent Episodes from the MedMal Insider Series
Bad Finger, Good Documentation
Podcast
A patient sued her hand surgeon, claiming the surgical approach increased the chance that their finger wouldn’t fully heal from a prior fracture. The defense leaned on contemporaneous clinical notes and documentation of the consent process to achieve a defense verdict.
No Note About Patient Refusal of Test Before Missed Cancer
Podcast
A delay in following a patient’s right kidney mass was complicated by the patient’s refusal of a CT scan and the providers’ incomplete and conflicting documentation of patient education and testing recommendations.
Fatal Team Failure to Widen the Diagnostic Focus for OB Patient
Podcast
Expert review concluded that a more aggressive response to non-reassuring fetal heart rate tracings, such as a conversion to cesarean delivery, would have been appropriate. Coupled with a delay in the diagnosis and treatment of chorioamnionitis, the case was settled in the high range.
Missed Protocols, Medication Mix-up, Patient Death
Podcast
A patient died following a medication mixup in an understaffed medical ICU. A large settlement was reached on behalf of the RN who administered the wrong dose of the wrong medicine.
Subscribe to MedMal Insider
Sign up and keep up.