Prevention is key

The Kidney Transplant Program was put on hold at the USC University Hospital after the wrong patient received a kidney. The kidney was a match to the patient even though it was the wrong patient, which happened to save his life. The patient who was supposed to receive the kidney received a new one a few days later. The surgeon said that they have so many safeguards that he doesn’t understand how something like this happened. The hospital blames human error for the mistake.

            Tabitha Mullings was diagnosed with kidney stones and was sent home with painkillers. Within 24 hours she had developed a sepsis infection which cut off the circulation to all of her limbs. The infection also made her legally blind. She was forced to get both arms and both legs amputated. Her fiancé proposed to her while she was in the hospital and she said that is what keeps her going.

            I don’t really understand how she got the infection but I think it was because of the medication the hospital had given her. I also am not sure how you would accidentally put a kidney into the wrong patient. You have to read the patients chart and check to make sure that person was the same person on the donor list. The patients also wear the wristbands that say their name and date of birth. You just have to pay attention to prevent things like this from happening.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,489467,00.htmlhttp://www.newser.com/tag/1120/1/medical-errors.html