My mother is on a ventilator in the Critical Care Unit at our local hospital. This past Friday evening we noticed that she was hooked up to ...

Question

My mother is on a ventilator in the Critical Care Unit at our local hospital. This past Friday evening we noticed that she was hooked up to a Morphine drip, which she is allergic to, and is/was clearly stated on both her charts, and her allergy bracelet. We were told that not only had the doctor ordered the Morphine without checking her chart, the hospital pharmacist filled it without checking her records and the nurse administered the drug without checking her bracelet. Luckily she was only on the drip for about an hour, and no damage seemed to have been done, but it's almost like we're are just being pacified by the hospital admin with "believe me, we'll handle it etc". Is this medical negligence and what should we do here? Thanks

Answer

Negligence, yes, but apparently with no damages resulting

therefrom.

As for what you should do, either remove your

mother from this hospital's care to another hospital (probably not practical at this point) or keep your eagle eyes peeled as to what happens there.