A 93 year old home bound senior was admitted to Henry Mayo
Newhall Memorial
Hospital for dehydration
and had low blood pressure that required intravenous medication to reverse the
downward sloping blood pressure. The admitting doctor diligently ordered a
blood pressure medicine meant to increase the blood pressure. A medicine was
started and the physician asked the hospital staff to call him with the new
blood pressure readings.
The hospital staff called the physician with the blood
pressure reading as the new medicine should be working by now....but the
pressure was lower...the physician asked for an increased amount of the
medicine and the blood pressure continued to drop. The physician came to the
hospital to see the patient and was shocked by what was found. After determining
the condition of the patient he transferred her to the ICU as she was becoming
critical. What the physician discovered was the complete reversal error by the
hospital. Instead of starting the patient on (dopamine) a medicine to RAISE
blood pressure the patient was given a blood pressure LOWERING medicine
(nitroglycerin). Through the diligence of the physician the patient recovered
and subsequently went home.
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