
The Wrong Patient (2002) - RestlessMind
http://annals.org/aim/fullarticle/715318/wrong-patient
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morpheuskafka
It sounds like they weren't using the medical record number for convience--
what about simply adding a check digit or letter to names so that maybe people
could be trained to say that if they insist on using names alone?

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joshgel
This article is from 2002.

Health systems are complex and mistakes happen.

Its great that articles like this get published to ensure that we continue to
learn from our mistakes and highlight the efforts we go to try to prevent
them.

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HankB99
This patient survived. I worked in a hospital about 40 years ago. A young man
came in with a laceration and required inpatient treatment. He was allergic to
aspirin so the nurse gave him ASA (acetylsalicylic acid, AKA Aspirin.) He
died. I wonder if that kind of thing still happens.

One effort to avoid this kind of problem is to use check lists. Book about
that was published in 2009. (The Checklist Manifesto)
[https://www.amazon.com/Checklist-Manifesto-How-Things-
Right/...](https://www.amazon.com/Checklist-Manifesto-How-Things-
Right/dp/0312430000)

