Hospital admits fault in firefighter's death

[NRSKarenRN]

chicago times staff report: friday, january 11,2002

http://www.thetimesonline.com/index.pl/article?id=10683777

hammond -- a nurse's dispensing of the wrong medication caused the death wednesday of a veteran hammond firefighter at st. margaret mercy healthcare centers in hammond, a statement from the hospital said.

the lake county coroner's office said michael magdziarz, 51, of schererville, was pronounced dead at 6:57 p.m. wednesday at the hospital. an official cause of death was not available from the coroner thursday night.

"st. margaret mercy healthcare centers is deeply saddened by the inexplicable error resulting in the untimely death of patient michael magdziarz," the hospital statement said. "following a successful open-heart procedure, mr. magdziarz was inadvertently given the wrong medication by an attending nurse."

donna magdziarz, the late firefighter's wife of nearly 33 years, said her husband had received quadruple bypass heart surgery at the hospital monday and was recovering in the intensive care unit by 11 a.m.

"he came out of surgery; he was perfect," she said. "his heart sustained everything that happened to him." ..

wonder what staffing was like. sorrow for both family and nurse...will try and follow this story. karen

[Donna Majors]

chicago times staff report: friday, january 11,2002

http://www.thetimesonline.com/index.pl/article?id=10683777

hammond -- a nurse's dispensing of the wrong medication caused the death wednesday of a veteran hammond firefighter at st. margaret mercy healthcare centers in hammond, a statement from the hospital said.

the lake county coroner's office said michael magdziarz, 51, of schererville, was pronounced dead at 6:57 p.m. wednesday at the hospital. an official cause of death was not available from the coroner thursday night.

"st. margaret mercy healthcare centers is deeply saddened by the inexplicable error resulting in the untimely death of patient michael magdziarz," the hospital statement said. "following a successful open-heart procedure, mr. magdziarz was inadvertently given the wrong medication by an attending nurse."

donna magdziarz, the late firefighter's wife of nearly 33 years, said her husband had received quadruple bypass heart surgery at the hospital monday and was recovering in the intensive care unit by 11 a.m.

"he came out of surgery; he was perfect," she said. "his heart sustained everything that happened to him."

wonder what staffing was like. sorrow for both family and nurse...will try and follow this story. karen

sorry it took 10 yrs to reply. it was one nurse to one patient. i have found a way to somewhat forgive the nurse but not the code blue team, not the hospital. we would not even have got an answer if a family member had not worked there. they still make mistakes and are covered up. all i ask is that medical workers follow the "r" rules. read the name, read the medication label and dose. if it does not sound right, call the doctor.

what happened to the family? the incident destroyed it. i should know, i am the wife.

[RN1980]

donna do you mean the hospital didnt come forward with the cause of death and tried to hide all this from the family. its terrible that a mistake happened but to try to hide said mistake from the family is crimminal! i hope for peace for the family and the nurse involved.