Health Law
Family Files Claim Over Child’s Death from ‘Inappropriate’ Dental Patch
Posted Sep 30, 2009 12:31 PM CST
By Martha Neil
The family of an autistic teen who died in his sleep of ketamine and Fentanyl intoxication after his mother applied a topical painkiller patch prescribed after dental work has filed a court claim against the hospital, doctor and resident involved.
Attorney Chris Davis, who represents the family, says an "egregious" mistake led to 15-year-old Michael Blankenship being prescribed the powerful painkiller in contravention of an advisory by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that it should only be used on opioid-tolerant individuals when other medication has proven ineffective, reports the Seattle Times.
Dr. David Fisher, the hospital's medical director, says in a written statement that "both the delivery system and the dose were inappropriate," and emphasizes that the family received an immediate acknowledgment and apology for what he describes as a medication error. However, he says the mistake was not the fault of any one person, the newspaper reports.
Seattle Children's has since changed its policy concerning the patch and now requires a pain medicine specialist to approve such prescriptions.
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Comments
A Saunders
Sep 30, 2009 9:04 PM CST
So why did the hospital not have someone who knew what they were doing prescribing these medications?
For all the talk about the need for tort reform in the medical business, this unfortunate event is a perfect example as to why tort damages need to stay at high levels, or increased in the states like CA, not decreased. I am not a Washington State Attorney, but it is my understanding that in Washington State they do not allow punitive damages for medical malpractice cases and non-economics are limited (or maybe the statute was/is unconstitutional).
Economic damages in this case? I can only say it is low.
If the possible damages included punitive and non-economic then it is a multi-million dollar mistake. If so, I bet that either the hospital would have implemented a specialist earlier, or their insurance carrier would have required them to have a specialist.
Our medical system is broken, but increasing insurance company profit margins with tort “reform” is not the answer. Increased damages encourages self insurance, such as only allowing doctors who know about the medication to prescribe it.
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