PHILADELPHIA — A miscalculation by a lab worker may have led to the deaths of two hospital patients who were given the wrong amount of a blood-thinning drug.
Officials at St. Agnes Medical Center in south Philadelphia said Tuesday that the hospital made a mistake in hundreds of lab tests to determine what dosage of Coumadin, a blood-thinning drug, patients should receive. The faulty test results led medical staff to administer the wrong amount of the drug.
The test results were calculated incorrectly for 932 patients between June 4 and July 25, the hospital said.
"Following preliminary internal review, Medical Center officials are reasonably certain, at this time, that two deaths may be linked to this incident," the hospital said in a statement. "A review is ongoing to determine if there are any other adverse outcomes."