King5 is reporting that an infant died after an accidental overdose at Children’s Hospital in Seattle. According to the report, one of the nurses accidentally gave ten times the dosage of calcium chloride to the eight month old, who was very sick already.
Apparently, a 15 year old died last year at Children’s after accidentally receiving too much pain medication. Two fatalities due to accidental dosing in two years is quite a lot. The hospital promised to review its policies as a result of the mistake last year. Apparently, they didn’t review them enough.
A parent has enough to worry about when they take their kid to the hospital. The last thing they need is to worry about is the staff that is supposed to be helping them making a fatal mistake with their child. These mistakes do not happen very often but when they do they shake the very foundation of our trust in doctors and nurses.
Hopefully, the amount of money Children’s Hospital will have to pay to the victims and their families will make the hospital realize that it has to change its policies and procedures to ensure the trust of the public.
