Patient Died from Med Allergy

Published

I just found this site and had to post. Ive had the worst day today. One of my biggest nightmares has come true! I killed a patient! Obviously, it was an accident but that is of little comfort to me right now. I've sat here and cried for hours -- I had to leave work early. ...Administered a medication they were allergic to it. It was in their file, but I was told to give it and I didn't double check. Clearly, more than myself is involved in this. I'm so worried -- I may lose my license. I'm utterly devastasted this happened. I think this is my last day of nursing... I can't fathom going back as just started 10 months ago. Just had to vent guys. :cry:

newrn

i'm so sorry you are going through this. i can understand what you are going through becuase when i made a mistake, it took me monthes to get over my guilt, shame and allowing myself to make a mistake. i thought i will never forgive myself, but eventually i did. i hope you talk to a counselor. hugs...:icon_hug::icon_hug::icon_hug::icon_hug::icon_hug::icon_hug:

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Specializes in Utilization Management.

((((((Hugs)))))))

I'm so very sorry.

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On a bit of a side note...in my state, they are changing the allergy bands to be universal throughout the state. They are changing in my facility from yellow to red. You no longer write the allergies ON them, they just say "allergy"...and you are supposed to refer back to the chart for what it is they are allergic to. This practice to me is SCARY, and increases the risk for error. :down:

That sounds EXTREMELY dangerous. Where I work, EVERYONE has to have an allergy band on - whether they have any or not. If someone doesn't have one on, how do you know whether they don't have any allergies, or if the band just fell off???

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Specializes in Med/Surg.
I currently work in IT - I have made errors that crashed a server. No matter what field you work in - nursing, science, IT, business, law, no matter what it is, you will hurt a patient, mess up a culture, crash a server, lose a case, etc.

Accidently causing a patients death can hardly compare with crashing a server or losing a case. Yes people are human and yes, sadly, nurses make fatal mistakes but lets keep them in perspective.

There will be some people who say that nurses and doctors "cannot afford" to make mistakes - well they do. And this sounds absolutely horrible to say, but many, many doctors and nurses have killed people, because they are human & humans make mistakes.

Doctors & nurses do not kill people! Accidently cause their death.

If I gave a patient a medication that they are allergic to and they died I would quit nursing, maybe not permanently, but that is not something you can just shake off and take back up where you left off. Causing a patients death, especially when the nurse should have been much more care to check the patients allergies, would require some serious sole searching and intense therapy. IMHO.

When I give any patient meds I always ask if they are allergic to any medications. Yes it takes time but ya know, it is so worth it!

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I concur-PLEASE delete your post.

You have allegedly made an error that resulted in a sentinel event but making any public psoting suggeting liability just opens you up for civil litigation.

You're human; you made a mistake.

DELETE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Specializes in ED, ICU, PACU.
you said that you were told to give the med after doing your job and questioning it. what you haven't learned yet is that you have the right to refuse to give something that you believe will harm the patient.

i had few incidences where i called physician about patient being allergic to medications, for example, patient is allergic to codeine but physician prescribes vicodin, or patient is allergic to aspirin products but physician prescribes medications that has allergy products etc. when i notify doctor, doctor still says we can still administer that medication. and some doctors do prescribe antibiotics that patient is allergic to. can nurses still refuse to give that medication?

i have patients on lot of weird allergies like mints, coffee, and medications that are listed as allergies yet patient is taking that medication. how do i know if patient is truely allergic to it????

yes, the nurse can refuse to give the medication, as long as the rationale is sound. you chart the reason and tell the charge nurse. many times i have refused.

if the doctor says to give it anyway, you should say that you are uncomfortable doing it & ask them why they want to give it. sometimes, the patient will say they are allergic & the doctor may already know that it was just a normal side effect (eg, stomach upset/diarrhea from an antibiotic). if that's the case, have the doctor call pharmacy and have that allergy removed from the patient's record. as long as the records say allergy, you have the obligation to withhold an unsafe order. also, always call the pharmacy to get clearance on any medication you are not sure of, in regards to a possible allergic reaction and chart that you called them & what their response was to your question.

as for the weird allergies: always ask the patient what happens to them when they had the 'allergic reaction.' their answer can guide you as to whether it is a true allergy or not. never, ever discount when they say swelling, itching, hives...anything that could be precursors to anaphylaxis/angioedema---those are the cues for the real and deadly type of allergic reaction possibility.

as nurses, we are above all patient advocates & this give us the right and duty to withhold a medication that may harm the patient.

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I'm sorry this happened to you.

It could happen to any of us. To BinkieRN- Yes, we can ask patients what their allergies are, but sometimes patients are unresponsive, or simply do not know what their allergies are. I dont know what the details are in this case, but just saying......

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I have a question for you all! I received a patient from ER that was getting vanco. In the ER, the patient has an allergic reaction to the vanco (turned red and started to itch really bad). The doctor gave benadryl and it solved the problem. When I received him on the floor, the doctor said to give the vanco, but he prescribed benadryl PRN as well. So I gave the vanco, and sure enough, he turned all red and started itching, so I gave the benadryl. Just curious... if it's that type of reaction (I mean, if the doctor saw it and said it's still OK to give the medication) and you give the reaction, and the patient goes into full blown allergic reaction and the airway shutdowns... whose fault is that?? The nurse's??? the doctor's??

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Specializes in Ortho, Case Management, blabla.
I have a question for you all! I received a patient from ER that was getting vanco. In the ER, the patient has an allergic reaction to the vanco (turned red and started to itch really bad). The doctor gave benadryl and it solved the problem. When I received him on the floor, the doctor said to give the vanco, but he prescribed benadryl PRN as well. So I gave the vanco, and sure enough, he turned all red and started itching, so I gave the benadryl.?

Sounds more like Red Man's syndrome than a full blown allergic reaction....Look up Red Man's syndrome.

edit: I had a patient one time with exact same everything that you described. I was the person receiving a pt on the floor that had a vanco reaction in the ER (this is the only reason I know this - I don't remember ever being taught it and it was something kind of out of the blue). The orders were to continue the vanco in spite of the reaction. Apparently the problem was (suspectedly per the ER doc whom I spoke with regarding the matter,) Red Man's syndrome. I continued the vanco at lower rate and the pt was fine. Maybe I'm a bit ballsy to go ahead and give the med despite the patient having a "reaction" to it several hours beforehand but I trusted the doc and it worked out.

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Well, I trusted the doc and gave it too! But after reading this thread, it has me a little worried lol

forgot to mention.. when I passed this info onto the next shift, the day nurse called pharmacy and said to try running it at a lower rate (as you described) and give the benadryl a few minutes before i ran the vanco. and it worked! brilliant!

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so so sorry...prayers to you....

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Specializes in Ortho, Case Management, blabla.
Well, I trusted the doc and gave it too! But after reading this thread, it has be a little worried lol

Well, I first called the Doc and questioned the order. I think I said something along the lines of, "patient had a reaction blablabla do you want a different antibiotic instead of vanco because that's the order they came up with?"

That's when I first learned about Red man's syndrome....I looked it up in my drug book and then in a med-surg book before I decided to proceed per orders.

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