Woman dies after wrong injection in Kanagawa hospital

09 May, 2004
 

YOKOHAMA — A university hospital in Kanagawa Prefecture admitted Saturday that a female patient died last month after a 25-year-old resident mistakenly injected lidocaine, an antiarrhythmic agent, at a dosage 20 times more than the required amount.

In apologizing for the error, Kiyotaka Fujii, head of Kitasato University Hospital in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, said that checking procedures were not carried out properly and that the mistake should never have happened.

A judicial autopsy determined that the patient, who was in her 70s and was hospitalized for cancer treatment, died of lidocaine poisoning. Police are questioning the male resident on suspicion of professional negligence resulting in death.

The hospital said the doctor in charge instructed the resident to inject 50 milligrams of lidocaine into the patient intravenously after she suffered from arrhythmia around 11 p.m. on April 6.

But the resident, who thought there was no supply of lidocaine for intravenous injections, injected 1,000 mg of highly concentrated lidocaine that was to be used for intravenous drips.

A nurse noticed that the ampoule was for intravenous drips and asked the resident if it was right to use the undiluted solution, to which the resident said yes.

The patient died an hour and 40 minutes later.

The resident had no expertise or detailed knowledge about the proper dosage and use of lidocaine, or its side effects. He was quoted by the hospital as saying he had been "careless."

The 1,000-bed hospital is certified as a facility providing advanced medical treatment. (Kyodo News)