“These are really basic errors that I didn’t really think happened that often anymore.” That’s what Dr. Ashish Jha, a Harvard expert in hospital quality, said after reviewing the latest federal government report that's critical of CHI St. Luke’s Health Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center.
Some people believe that this storied 881-bed hospital, located at 6720 Berner Avenue, in Houston’s Texas Medical Center, has been resting on its laurels and in the process has lost its way. Repeated surveys of the federal watchdog Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have identified numerous patient safety issues.
The most recent care that raised the eyebrows of the Harvard expert involves mixing up patient orders. Hospitals work by providing nursing and technical staff that respond to medication and other orders made by physicians. The nursing and technical staff are hospital employees, and it’s the hospital’s responsibility to hire and train competent personnel.
Imagine the danger posed to patients when hospital staff mix up a physician order for one patient with another patient. Think about what could happen to you, your spouse, your parent, or your child.
Shortly after last Thanksgiving, a woman in her 70s went to Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center because she was retaining too much fluid after dialysis treatment. A doctor had ordered a blood transfusion for another patient with a different blood type, but the hospital staff messed up the request and made it on behalf of this woman instead.
Fortunately, the hospital lab personnel caught the error before the woman was given the wrong blood type.
As a former hospital administrator, I know that hospital leaders and healthcare providers often refer to such instances as “near misses.” It’s important to learn from near misses and incorporate changes and training to make sure they don’t happen again.
Unfortunately, four days later, Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center staff made a similar mistake, sending a blood sample marked for one patient that contained another patient’s blood in it. This led to a different woman in her 70s being given the wrong blood type, leading to her death the next day after repeatedly going into cardiac arrest.
Hospital quality expert Dr. Jha is right: modern hospitals and healthcare providers shouldn’t be making this type of mistake. Yet, in less than a one-week period, Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center made the same type of dangerous mistake twice.
There’s no doubt that government inspections and media attention put pressure on hospital executives to make changes to improve patient safety. I believe, though, that there’s nothing as effective as holding hospitals accountable in court for their medical malpractice.
As a Houston, Texas medical malpractice attorney, I’ve investigated numerous cases involving Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center. From this experience, I know what to do to hold the hospital accountable when their mistakes cause serious injury or death of a patient.
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Robert Painter is a medical malpractice attorney at Painter Law Firm PLLC, in Houston, Texas. He is a former hospital administrator who represents patients and family members in medical negligence and wrongful death lawsuits against hospitals, physicians, surgeons, anesthesiologists, and other healthcare providers. A member of the board of directors of the Houston Bar Association, he was honored, in 2018, by H Texas as one of Houston’s top lawyers. Also, in 2018, the Better Business Bureau recognized Painter Law Firm PLLC with its Award of Distinction.
