We all need medical professionals for many of our health concerns. Whether it is something as minor as a checkup or as major as surgery, we expect the doctors, nurses, and surgeons to perform their jobs well. We count on them to heal us when we’re sick and trust them with our lives on occasion.
When something goes wrong and you or a family member is injured as the result of a health care provider’s negligence or recklessness, the results can be life-changing.
A recent incident happened in the Tulsa area when ten people at a care facility for people with intellectual disabilities were hospitalized after they were injected with insulin instead of the flu vaccine.
The Jacquelyn House in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, is about 40 miles north of Tulsa, this is where multiple people were found unresponsive, said Bartlesville Police Chief Tracy Roles.
Eight residents and two staff members were all hospitalized following the incident but have since been released or will be soon.
Roles said that a licensed pharmacist was contracted by the facility to administer the vaccine. The pharmacist is cooperating with police and state officials, but investigators believe it was an accident.
Jamie Dukes from the Oklahoma State Department of Health says the pharmacist supplied the medication from a third-party pharmacy, and that staff at the facility are not responsible in any way for the error.
“At this point there is no indication that the facility should have held a reasonable suspicion this sort of error could occur, and that this was a preventable error in the normal sense,” he wrote.
“I’ve never seen where there’s been some sort of medical misadventure to this magnitude,” Roles said. “It could have been worse. Not to downplay where we are, but thinking of where we could be, it certainly could have been very tragic.”
Insulin is naturally occurring to regulate blood sugar levels, but it is typically administered to individuals with diabetes. An excess of insulin can cause low blood sugar, resulting in sweating, nervousness, hunger, and irritability, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Medical malpractice is the failure of any medical professional to provide services that meet the standard of care of a reasonable physician, which results in harm done to that patient. This harm can be a temporary or permanent injury that can result in the loss of income and economic stability. In cases of medical malpractice, you have the right to file a lawsuit to gain compensation for the personal injury or injuries inflicted upon you or a family member.
There are tens of thousands of medical errors a year that lead to thousands of people seriously injured or dead. These injuries include wrong-site surgeries where a good organ or gland is removed, but a cancerous one is left in the body, as well as brain and spinal injuries that result in someone needing a lifetime of special care. Medical malpractice lawsuits seek to protect these individuals and ultimately make our hospitals and clinics safer.
The Oklahoma medical malpractice lawyers at Carr & Carr Attorneys can help if you or a loved one has been a victim of medical negligence. Call us at 866-510-0580 or contact us online to schedule your free, no-obligation consultation. Our law firm maintains offices in Tulsa and Oklahoma City, but our attorneys can also meet you at your home, hospital room or other location convenient for you.
