Elderly woman dies after blood 'mix-up'
11:58 AEDT Wed Dec 15 2004
An elderly woman died after being given the wrong type of blood in a transfusion at an Adelaide hospital, a coronial inquest was told.
Dorothy Alberta Squires, 90, was given blood type A negative instead of O positive for about an hour during a transfusion at Flinders Private Hospital in Adelaide's south, Coroner Wayne Chivell was told.
Mrs Squires died within days of the transfusion, counsel assisting the coroner, Kate Hodder, said.
A forensic pathologist attributed the cause of death to combined effects of the incompatible blood transfusion and a heart attack, Ms Hodder said.
Mrs Squires was given the blood of another patient at the hospital on September 26 last year, and died three days later, she said.
Ms Hodder said Mrs Squires initially went to the hospital on September 12 complaining of chest pains but refused to undergo an extensive heart investigation and was treated with medication and discharged.
On September 21, Mrs Squires returned to the hospital with similar complaints but again refused extensive heart tests and was discharged, only to be readmitted later that day.
Her condition worsened on September 26 and she underwent heart surgery, before later requiring a blood transfusion.
Ms Hodder said two nurses signed transfusion registration forms which correlated the blood as being that of Mrs Squires, but an hour after the transfusion started another nurse noticed the blood being used was of another patient.
The inquest was continuing.
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=24614
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