A hip-surgery patient died after receiving the wrong blood type, and two hospital workers have been suspended, hospital officials said.
Madylene Hodil, 74, died at The Medical Center on Saturday, hours after an operation to repair a fractured hip, Jack Simon, a hospital spokesman said Thursday.Hodil's blood type was O positive, but she received one unit of B negative blood, Simon said.
On Sept. 12, during preparation for Hodil's surgery a technician apparently accidentally took a blood sample from a patient in the bed next to Hodil, said Walter Van Dyke, the hospital's senior vice president.
Based on the sample, the hospital had blood available in case Hodil needed a transfusion during or after surgery. In recovery, she started bleeding and received a transfusion.
Beaver County Coroner Wayne Tatalovich said he should know by Tuesday whether the death was criminal or accidental.
The technician who drew the blood sample and a nurse who performed the transfusion were suspended with pay pending the hospital's investigation, Simon said. Neither was identified.
Type O is universally compatible as donated blood. But those with type O can only receive type O, Van Dyke said.
When bloods are mismatched, it can be deadly, said Dr. Richard J. Davey, chief of lab services in the department of transfusion medicine at the National Institute of Health in Washington.
He didn't know how many people die each year of mismatched blood in transfusions.