Transplant error leaves girl near death Wednesday, February 19, 2003 Posted: 2:28 AM HKT (1828 GMT) Medical workers attend to Santillan. DURHAM, North Carolina (CNN) -- A Mexican teenager is fighting for her life at Duke University Hospital, where she mistakenly received organs with a different blood type during a heart-lung transplant operation Jesica Santillan, 17, was listed in critical condition Tuesday, and the hospital was working to get transplanted organs for her, said Richard Puff, a Duke hospital spokesman. Puff said he could not speculate on how much time the teen has to live. Jesica received the transplant February 7, according to a hospital statement, which said the error was the "result of a blood type mismatch." "Every effort is being made to save Jesica's life," said Dr. William Fulkerson, the hospital's chief executive officer. "Our primary concern has always been for Jesica and her family. This was a tragic error, and we accept responsibility for our part," Fulkerson said. "This is an especially sad situation since we intended this operation to save the life of a girl whose prognosis was grave. Jesica continues to remain at the top of the national organ donation list." Anne Paschke, spokeswoman at United Network for Organ Sharing, said there are critical shortages of organ donors through the United States and finding a donor for a heart-lung procedure is difficult. UNOS administers the nation's only organ procurement and transplantation network. Paschke said according to the latest statistics only 55 heart-lung transplants took place nationwide in 2001 and 2002, and 197 people were on the waiting list for the procedure as of February 7. Jesica, whose family moved to the United States so she could get the transplant, suffered from a heart deformity that affected her lungs, according to The Associated Press. After a three-year wait, she received a transplant with a heart and lungs flown from Boston, Massachusetts, to Durham 10 days ago. The organs were sent with paperwork correctly listing the donor's blood type, said Sean Fitzpatrick of the New England Organ Bank, which sent the organs, the AP reported. Despite the paperwork, the girl, who has type O-positive blood, received the type A organs. Fulkerson said the mix-up was the first such error after thousands of "successful organ transplants" at the facility. He said the hospital was implementing additional safeguards to ensure such an error doesn't happen again.
So, not only are they going to kill this little girl, they may kill someone else who's name she's ahead of on the transplant list. Dumbass bastards.
Medical malpractice is one of the leading causes of death in our country. I am sure that if anyone searched the news archives, you would find similar stories to be all too common.
Umm... shouldn't these already be put in place? Shouldn't issues of life/death have the most stringent safety measures known to man?
Having worked in a hospital, it's amazing how many mistakes occur. This is tragic. We can put whatever failsafes we want, but the problem is that we're human and prone to mistakes. I'd be worried if this happened more frequently. Man, I hope this girl will be alright.
people are imperfect...but doctors work miracles everyday. space shuttles blow up...planes crash...people die. you can't completely failsafe human error with procedure. so while med mal might cause deaths...medicine, and the doctors who practice it, save far more than they accidentally lose.
Never worked in a hospital, but I do know people in "residency," and they often work 36-hour shifts. Yes, awake for 36 hours making critical decisions. Does anyone know if this is common? Does anyone think that might be part of a larger problem? I've heard most staffs are critically short on available nurses too.
Is it true that there is a $250K cap on medical malpractice lawsuits? I heard this in a passing comment on the Mike Gallager show, but there was no substantial proof. Can lawyers in the house confirm this? If its true, I gotta ask why? How many other fields have caps for lawsuits?
Yeah, there's a nationwide nursing shortage, just one of many problems in the medical field. I've always wondered about the long hours worked by doctors. From talking to my friends in and out of med school, I've never really heard a satisfactory (to me at least) explaination for the practice. It seems to be almost institutionalized, a sort of "this is how we did it, so you youngin's are going to do it to", and a definite resistance to change. I certainly wouldn't want an airplane pilot or busdriver to be on his 30th plus hour without sleep, I can't understand why it's seen as a good thing for doctors.
california has a cap like that. texas does not. the cap is on pain and suffering damages, as i understand it. or was it just on punitive damages? this came up the other day in another thread. but it doesn't cap real economic damages....if a doctor does over $250K of damage that you can prove up, there is no cap that prevents you from recovery. It's the "soft damages" that are limited...things that are harder to prove.
I've met tons of Doctors. And the one thing I can say is that they are equally as dumb as the rest of us. They are going to screw up. We are all human in this world. We just have a different set of skills. Unfortunately, their screw ups take lives. Fortunately, their successes save them too.
I think it is kind of hazing type practice. I think older doctors feel you should have to go through because they did.
My two buds who are doctors are both insane....of course thats what I like about them. However I would NOT want them practicing medicine on me. However they are not dumb.
mateo, they might not be 'dumb', but the majority of doctors are just memorization machines (creatures of habit). Few doctors are geniuses. Many of them are little more than glorified mechanics.
are you serious? these people work their asses off...they save lives. how can you be so condescending? who then is worthy of praise for their intellect? college professors?
While I am not a doctor, I find this post very disrespectful. Doctors are true heroes in today's society. They save lives and sacrifice so much to help other people. Yes, they are humans who are not perfect and will be subject to human error as any other person would be, but to call them glorified mechanics is a bit too much. I wish more of today's youth would look up to doctors as role models instead of drug using, foul-mouthed, angry athletes and musicians.
Dude, the only reason, you know some athletes use drugs or are foul mouthed is because they are on television all the time. While I agree that kids should look up to people who truly make a difference in our society, you shouldn't stereotype all athletes and muscians as immoral, just as you shouldn't stereotype all doctors as heroes. Hollywood Plastic surgeons are doctors too.
dude, you're too argumentative. his point was merely that doctors are providing a crucial service to society...juxtaposed to another's opinion that they're nothing more than "glorified mechanics." he never said all athletes or musicians are foul-mouthed...but certainly you can admit there are more than a few musicians whom you would rather your children not emulate. no need to make an argument up where there isn't one...there are enough real ones around.
