The California Department of Public Health has fined Mission Hospital $50,000 for giving morphine to a newborn. The medication was intended for the infant's mother.
The medication mix-up happened on April 2009. A nurse accidentally injected the morphine into the baby's IV instead of his mother's IV. Luckily, the Orange County, California medication mistake was detected in time and the baby has made a full recovery.
Mission has submitted a correction plan that prohibits the hospital from administering medications to mothers in the neonatal intensive unit. In this case, the mom had just given birth to triplets and she was in the NICU for "skin-to-skin" bonding with the baby who was accidentally given the morphine dose.
According to an article published in the American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy in 2008, neonatal medication-dispensing errors have been known to occur. That year, there were five cases involving medication-dispensing mistakes that took place at the same institution. Three of the five errors involved near misses that could have resulted in harm. Four of the five incidents involved mix-ups between neonatal and pediatric or adult products.
The mistakes reflected weaknesses in the system set in place for neonatal medication labeling, storage, knowledge, delivery, and administration documentation. Solutions to the problems included reorganizing medication shelves, setting up a color labeling scheme, and changes to vaccine storage, ordering, dispensing, and documentation systems.
Examples of reasons why medication errors might occur at a hospital:
- Exhausted staff members, inadequate staff training
- A worker who is in a hurry and forgets to double-check that the correct medication (and the right dosage) is being administered
- Lack of proper medication administering system that includes adequate safety measures
According to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies in 2006, nearly 1.5 million people a year are injured because of medication mistakes. About 400,000 of these preventable medication errors took place in hospitals.
If you or someone you love was injured because of a medication mistake, you may be able to file an Orange County, California medical malpractice lawsuit against the negligent medical center, worker, or other liable parties.
Mission Hospital fined after newborn gets morphine, OC Register, May 20, 2010
Medication Mistakes Can Be Deadly But Preventable, OneMedSentinel
Medication Errors Injure 1.5 Million People and Cost Billions of Dollars Annually;
Report Offers Comprehensive Strategies for Reducing Drug-Related Mistakes, Office of News and Public Information, July 20, 2006
Related Web Resource:
Medical Malpractice: When can patients sue a hospital for negligence?, Nolo
