Recently, a woman at a Minnesota nursing home facility died after being administered a dose of potassium that was ten times higher than her doctor had prescribed. It is believed that poor communication is to blame in the death of the woman, Darlene Felt, who suffered cardiac arrest in December of 2010 and died.
Felts husband Herman felt that something just wasn’t quite right because of the terrible pain she was in while recovering from congestive heart failure, so he decided to do something about it. Felt remember a doctor commenting on the high levels of potassium in his wife’s blood, and requested copies of her medical records. Bethany Home, the nursing home where Darlene Felt resided, listed her potassium dosage as 80 “millequivalents” a day. Hospital records revealed that the proper dosage was 8 millequivalents, a huge discrepancy. Upon learning this information, Felts went to the Minnesota Department of Health with his findings.
During the last week in October of this year, the Health Department released the results of their investigation. Felts suspicions were confirmed; his wife was administered doses of potassium that were 10 times stronger than prescribed by her doctor. However, it was determined that Bethany Home workers erroneously read the prescription written by the physician as “80″, when in fact it was actually an “8″ followed by a scribbled out mark. Dr. Ronald Verant, who had been the Felts physician for over 25 years, had originally written 16 millequivalents and then decided on 8 because they were easier to swallow. He then crossed out the 16 and wrote an 8 in front of it, which looked to workers to be “80″ millequivalents.
According to Bethany Home’s policy regarding the administration of medications, workers are to refer to drug references on nursing unit when in doubt or ask the pharmacist. Medication is to be withheld if there are any questions or concerns about the dosage until consulting with a nurse in charge or attending physician.
The pharmacist who was working to fill the order thought that the dosage was unusually high, and called Bethany Home to confirm the dosage; a nurse confirmed 80 millequivalents, however the doctor (Verant) was never contacted to clarify the order. Dr. Verant expressed his disbelief over how any nurse or worker could have thought that the scribbled out 16 was a zero, and said that he could not fathom what was done, and that in his 26 years of practice he had never prescribed a dosage of 80 millequivalents of potassium.
Who is to blame under these circumstances? Clearly, workers administering the drug to Felts should have realized that 80 millequivalents was a questionable dosage. This is an unfortunate incident that happens all too often in our nursing homes today.
Brown Chiari is a team of New York nursing home neglect attorneys who are dedicated to protecting the rights of our clients. Contact us today for a free evaluation of your case.