An 83-year-old woman who was being treated for a
respiratory infection in the Mediclinic Kimberley underwent heart
surgery when she was mistaken for another patient, Beeld reported on
Wednesday.
Mediclinic spokeswoman Denise Coetzee told the
newspaper a misunderstanding between two specialists led to Rita du
Plessis being operated on on July 25.
She was in the same ward as another elderly woman and both were patients of the same physician.
"The physician requested the surgeon to take his
patient to theatre for a procedure to remove excessive moisture around
the heart," she was quoted as saying.
"Unfortunately, he got confused with their surnames and he gave the wrong patient's name to the surgeon over the phone."
Coetzee told Beeld that Du Plessis was not able to give
permission for the operation herself and the surgeon had to contact
her husband.
During ward rounds the physician realised his mistake
when he saw that Du Plessis was not there and he was told she was in
surgery.
Beeld reported that the physician contacted the family
to apologise and after the surgery the surgeon called Du Plessis's
family to tell them the operation was a success.
According to the report, the hospital apologised for
the confusion and the hospital, the surgeon, and the anaesthetist did
not charge for the operation. (SAPA)
Follow us on Facebook:
PEFM 87.6
Follow us on Twitter:
@PEFMnews
International Correspondent Scott Congdon can be reached at:
Mail: scottcpefm@gmail.com
Phone: 010 500 8203 (in South Africa) (Available 3-5pm SAST weekdays)
011 27 10 500 8203 (calling from outside of South Africa) (Available 3-5pm SAST weekdays)
*Note: Views expressed in the commentaries on this website are those of individual authors and not necessarily those of PEFM 87.6or our presenters or correspondents. Quotes are obviously the opinion of the source. A quote is just a quote and these are offered without comment. Use of a news story or commentary is not an endorsement of the source website.
PEFM 87.6
Follow us on Twitter:
@PEFMnews
International Correspondent Scott Congdon can be reached at:
Mail: scottcpefm@gmail.com
Phone: 010 500 8203 (in South Africa) (Available 3-5pm SAST weekdays)
011 27 10 500 8203 (calling from outside of South Africa) (Available 3-5pm SAST weekdays)
*Note: Views expressed in the commentaries on this website are those of individual authors and not necessarily those of PEFM 87.6or our presenters or correspondents. Quotes are obviously the opinion of the source. A quote is just a quote and these are offered without comment. Use of a news story or commentary is not an endorsement of the source website.
© PEFM 87.6
No comments:
Post a Comment