Unfortunately, employee mistakes in the medical field are par for the course. Indeed, there are companies that specifically work with hospitals and medical institutions in an attempt to decrease error and increase quality healthcare.
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A hospital in Coral Cables, Florida, should certainly avail itself of these companies’ services.
According to the Miami Herald, a man who recently had his leg amputated at this hospital was very surprised when he received a visit from homicide detectives. The purpose of their visit—they wanted to know why his leg was found in the trash! The homicide detectives had found the leg—with the patient’s name tag still attached—at a waste management facility.
At first, the detectives thought that there was some sort of foul play involved. After further investigation, the detectives figured out that the leg belonged to a live patient, but they still didn’t know how it ended up in the hospital’s garbage.
Turns out that instead of incinerating the leg, as required by the hospital’s safety protocol standards, someone took a shortcut and just tossed the leg, patient identifier and all!
Ironically, when contacted, the hospital refused to make any specific comments on the matter, citing patient privacy concerns. The hospital, however, did make assurances that it took immediate and appropriate measures to address the goof-up. According to the hospital, the proper procedures were “reinforced” to prevent future incidents. The man has filed a lawsuit, claiming that this whole matter has caused him emotional distress.
Even if you are not a medical facility, there is a valuable lesson here. Make sure that you are constantly reviewing and reinforcing proper procedures at your worksite. Sometimes that includes refresher trainings or yearly memorandums. It may also include instituting a quality control protocol.
And … if you are a hospital, you may want to get a leg up on any potential trouble, and start checking your trash more frequently.
Gruesome–but compensable for the patient?