Drip Blunder by Doc Costs 20-year-old Her Life

One of the top hospitals in Manchester, UK, has been sued for negligence following the death of a 20-year old woman who waited for nearly two hours for blood transfusion after a drip insertion technique went horribly wrong and cut her jugular vein.

Sally Thompson was admitted to the Manchester Royal Infirmary on August 22 and was suffering from a rare blood disorder. Doctors at the hospital decided to insert a central venous catheter (CVC) which was to be used to administer vital drugs.

However the doctors followed an insertion technique known as "landmark" in which the drip was to be inserted after the neck was mapped out in order to find the jugular vein. Problems arose when the jugular vein was punctured during insertion and Ms Thompson lost almost two litres of blood.

The doctors then put two urgent request for extra blood but the blood bank was unable to provide the blood for more than one hour 45 minutes leading to Ms Thompson's death.

Nigel Meadows, who conducted the inquest, laid the blame solely on the hospital's inability to provide the necessary blood in time and attributed the death to the usage of the "landmark" technique instead of using ultrasound to help guide them during insertion.


Source-Medindia
RAS