An aplastic anaemia patient died of alleged mismatched blood transfusion at the State-run K.C. General Hospital on Thursday after she, who was O+, was given B+ blood.
Rajeshwari B.G.’s family blamed the blood bank technician at the hospital and filed a complaint against the hospital with the Malleswaram police.
Rajeshwari (24) was given the blood on June 29 and when she took a turn for the worse, was shifted to Victoria Hospital on July 1 where she died early on Thursday.
While K.C. General doctors denied the allegation, Health Minister U.T. Khader has ordered a probe.
“I have asked Health Commissioner V.B. Patil and Director of the Health and Family Welfare Department B.N. Dhanya Kumar to conduct an inquiry,” Mr. Khader told The Hindu .
Goes into shock
Mr. Dhanya Kumar said Rajeshwari was a regular patient and had undergone transfusions before. “Her condition required frequent transfusions. She developed anaphylactic shock (a sudden, severe allergic reaction characterised by a sharp drop in blood pressure and breathing difficulties caused by exposure to a foreign substance) 40 hours after the transfusion. The reaction should have occurred immediately if it was mismatched blood.”
‘She asked the nurse’
However, a hospital source confirmed gross negligence by staff at two levels — the first by lab technician Bhagyalakshmi and then by the nurse Leela attending on her. “Although the family asked for O+ blood, the technician gave them units of B+ group. After this, when the nurse was starting the transfusion, Rajeshwari is learnt to have asked the nurse why she was being given B+ blood when she was O+. The nurse should have asked the doctor and cleared the confusion before the transfusion. She didn’t.” Medical Superintendent R.L. Chandraprabha said she was not aware of the details. “But we will find out if there is any negligence.”
The source said the family was demanding money from the doctor. “Although the negligence was by the lab and nursing staff, the doctor is being made a scapegoat.”
