Transplant error prompts policy changes
Ambulatory Safety Monitor, February 19, 2003
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Administrative failure may be the cause of a catastrophic error at Duke University Hospital, where a 17-year-old girl is in critical condition after receiving organs that did not match her blood type, according to the Associated Press.
A spokesperson from The New England Organ Bank, which transported the organs to the hospital, says the heart and lung's blood type was correctly labeled when they arrived on February 7.
The hospital's chief executive officer, William Fulkerson, admitted that the hospital was at fault for the error. He also announced the beginning of an additional check in the organ donor process to guarantee that organs match the patients for whom they're intended. Under the new system, transplant coordination staff—not just surgical staff—will verify organ compatibility.
Jesica Santillan has type Opositive blood, but the organs she received came from a donor with typeA blood.
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