Once hospital negligence has occurred, everyone expects there to be changes made to prevent future patient injuries or deaths from occurring. One New York hospital has unfortunately failed to take appropriate steps to fix their issues.
In 2013, an 84-year-old patient received a blood transfusion at Coney Island Hospital in New York. Tragically, the patient was given the wrong blood type and died as a result of the mistakes that were made.
After the incident, the hospital was required to come up with a plan to prevent similar medical negligence incidents from occurring in the future. The State immediately shut down all blood testing for transfusions at the hospital and has been closely inspecting the hospital’s lab. Blood typing for patients at Coney Island Hospital was moved to the nearby Kings County Hospital center.
The Coney Island Hospital lab has been inspected eight times since 2013, but the hospital still has not been allowed to resume its own blood typing. The New York Department of Health conducted its latest inspection in early May and found that the hospital was not following the state-approved policies and procedures relating to transfusion testing. The hospital was cited for creating an “immediate jeopardy” situation. This means that patients were at risk of serious injury.
Some of the hospital’s issues were related to not meeting the turnaround times for testing. However, since the citation, the blood is now being stored at Coney Island Hospital, which is helping the hospital make the required five-hour turnaround time. A correction plan has been submitted and the Department of Health continues to monitor the hospital’s progress.
Source: New York Post, “After fatal accident, hospital still putting patients at risk: DOH,” Isabel Vincent and Melissa Klein, June 5, 2016
