Nurse Injects Coffee Instead of Blood Drip

[SheHateMe]

:awe::awe::awe::awe::awe:

A student nurse in Brazil has been charged with involuntary manslaughter after allegedly injecting a patient with coffee, rather than a blood drip.

Rejane Moreira Telles, 23, had been working at a Rio de Janeiro clinic for only three days
when the incident occurred, the New York Daily News reports.

"Anyone can get confused," Telles told TV Globo, pointing out that the blood drip and a feed drip filled with a coffee and milk mixture were right next to each other. She also noted that she had not received training in this particular procedure.

The patient, 80-year-old Palmerina Pires Ribeiro, died last week, hours after the mix-up, according tot he Daily Mail.

Nutritional specialist Dr. Armando Carreir told the network that Ribeiro's death "would have been as if [she] was suffocating."

Two nurses and other student at the clinic have also been indicted for manslaughter.

A similar incident occurred in Rio de Janeiro in late September, when a nursing technician allegedly injected a patient with soup.

Now that's absolutely ridiculous. Coffee instead of blood, what kind of Coffee was it that it was able to confuse her so? Also, why are things like Coffee, Milk, and Soup near Blood anyway?

 

[Double Trouble]

What in the hell? Confusing coffee or soup for blood and injecting the patient with it? That's f-ing nutso.

 

[SparkyJJO]

I don't see a problem.

 

[SheHateMe]

What in the hell? Confusing coffee or soup for blood and injecting the patient with it? That's f-ing nutso.

I can't even fathom that shit happening here in the States..that would be horrible!

What effect would that have on the body having milk and coffee injected into you...

 

[Blackjack200]

Now that's absolutely ridiculous. Coffee instead of blood, what kind of Coffee was it that it was able to confuse her so? Also, why are things like Coffee, Milk, and Soup near Blood anyway?

Sounds like sabotage to me. I can't think of any reason you'd have coffee in an IV drip bag.

Also, you've never given blood I assume. A bag of blood is not cherry red. It's a very deep dark red. Not that far from coffee. I imagine it would be pretty easy to tell if you were looking closely, but if you were in a hurry and had no reason to suspect that the bag in your hand might just be coffee rather than blood...

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

At first I thought OP had made a mistake and meant caffeine. But then I read it and it turns out it was something even more ridiculous.

Maybe Brazil just doesn't have the checks that they need to go through before giving blood.

 

[monovillage]

the JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association)posted an article that 80,000 to 100,000 iatrogenic deaths occur every year in the United States. Some estimates are much higher.

http://www.rightdiagnosis.com/h/hospital_or_surgery_related_conditions/deaths.htm
http://www.wnho.net/deathbymedicine.htm
http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1031042

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

the JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association)posted an article that 80,000 to 100,000 iatrogenic deaths occur every year in the United States. Some estimates are much higher.

http://www.rightdiagnosis.com/h/hospital_or_surgery_related_conditions/deaths.htm
http://www.wnho.net/deathbymedicine.htm
http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1031042

You'd be hard-pressed to find the last person who died from getting an IV coffee infusion in the US, methinks. People die from getting the wrong crystalloid all the time because they're all clear, colourless liquids. Whereas red cells are, well, red, and coffee...even a colourblind person (me) can tell it's not red.

 

[monovillage]

You'd be hard-pressed to find the last person who died from getting an IV coffee infusion in the US, methinks. People die from getting the wrong crystalloid all the time because they're all clear, colourless liquids. Whereas red cells are, well, red, and coffee...even a colourblind person (me) can tell it's not red.

You would know this .....how?

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

You would know this .....how?

You'll have to be more specific, but I'm assuming you're referring to my claim that improper fluid management is common and kills people.

http://journals.lww.com/anesthesiol...=2008&issue=10000&article=00021&type=abstract
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2503821/

Firstly, we suck at it, and secondly, improper fluid management increases risk of any number of complications from surgery (and other medical procedures too) - infection, slow recovery, cardiovascular events, organ failure, etc.

I think we're past the days where deaths can be directly attributed to poor fluid management (e.g. giving normal saline as maintenance fluid, or forgetting about giving potassium, or over-correcting hyponatraemia too quickly). But the small things, like patients dying from wound infections because their bodies were too overloaded with fluid to fight the infection properly, likely still occur. And the worst part is, that they don't count as poor fluid management, so nothing gets changed.

If, on the other hand, you're referring to the coffee thing, prove me wrong and find one.

 

[Powermoloch]

Student nurse here, about to graduate as of march 2013.


What this student nurse did was purely from ignorance by failing to assess the IV tubing, the patient and her skill. Also the nurses who's been assigned and responsible for teaching the student is as guilty for not managing their patient's care and failure to supervise.

 

[dawp]

I think this is the important part:

She also noted that she had not received training in this particular procedure

If she wasn't trained in this procedure, why the hell was she doing it unsupervised? If she was doing as instructed then those how told her to do it should be charged, not her. There should have been someone looking over her shoulder to be sure she absolutely knew how to do this.

 

[Smoblikat]

This doesnt sound right to me. How do you confuse coffee with blood? And, why is there coffee in a drip bag?

 

[nehalem256]

I think this is the important part:



If she wasn't trained in this procedure, why the hell was she doing it unsupervised? If she was doing as instructed then those how told her to do it should be charged, not her. There should have been someone looking over her shoulder to be sure she absolutely knew how to do this.

You have to be trained to tell the difference between coffee and blood?

 

[SandEagle]

prettt sad that she has to bear the guilt for this mistake.

 

[Perknose]

A similar incident occurred in Rio de Janeiro in late September, when a nursing technician allegedly injected a patient with soup.

Didn't she see the clear notes in the patient's chart:

No soup for You!

 

[Linux23]

I have no idea, but this thread is LOL for me. I'm actually in tears.

 

[SheHateMe]

Sounds like sabotage to me. I can't think of any reason you'd have coffee in an IV drip bag.

Also, you've never given blood I assume. A bag of blood is not cherry red. It's a very deep dark red. Not that far from coffee. I imagine it would be pretty easy to tell if you were looking closely, but if you were in a hurry and had no reason to suspect that the bag in your hand might just be coffee rather than blood...

I give blood at least twice a year. I know what it looks like. You cannot convince me that coffee and blood can be mistaken for one another. I've never seen deep dark red coffee anyway. Even if you can't stick your finger in blood, you can look at it and tell that it appears to be much thicker than coffee and a totally different color.

No way, Jose!

 

[dawp]

You have to be trained to tell the difference between coffee and blood?

with peoples lives at stake and a new hire 3 days on the job (probably fresh out of school or still attending) she should have someone looking over her shoulder.

On my current job I wasn't let loose for two weeks and my job does not directly effects someones life like her's does. and mine can adversely effect 911 in a whole city.

 

[Atreus21]

My wife's in nursing school. I'll print out some pictures of coffee and blood tonight and have a little presentation at the dinner table.

 

[Harrod]

My girlfriend bought me red velvet coffee once, maybe it was that flavor.

 

[Slew Foot]

Youd have to be a complete fucking moron to mistake blood for coffee and milk

 

[xBiffx]

Is she color blind? Serious question.

 

[WelshBloke]

Is she color blind? Serious question.

I don't think that's an issue. Feed bags look totally different from blood bags regardless of their contents.

I'm curious why they had a feed bag full of milky coffee though.

 

[SheHateMe]