Maintain pressure on reforms to protect NHSTrust faces prosecution over death of nurse
A hospital trust faces prosecution after one of its own nurses died when she was given the wrong anaesthetic shortly after giving birth to her son.
Great Western Hospitals Foundation Trust in Swindon, faces charges of exposing patients to “risks arising from the storing of drugs and drugs errors”, after an inquest in 2008 found Mayra Cabrera, who was originally from the Philippines, was unlawfully killed.
Ms Cabrera, a theatre nurse who worked at Great Western Hospital, suffered a heart attack when negligently stored epidural anaesthetic bupivacaine was attached to an intravenous drip in her hand on May 11, 2004.
Last year an inquest into Ms Cabrera’s death reached a verdict of unlawful killing - the first such verdict against an NHS trust. Swindon magistrates are due to consider the case against the trust in December.
Have your say
You must sign in to make a comment.
Online training units, written and reviewed by experts. Earn two hours' CPD and a personalised certificate for your portfolio.
Subscribers get five FREE learning units and non-subscribers can access each learning unit for £10 + VAT.
Share
Readers' comments (1)
John Tallon | 20-Nov-2009 9:46 am
It doesn't matter what it costs, but it's time that epidural and spinal equipment such as syringes, needles and giving sets were made incompatible with those used for intravenous injections.
I don't know all the facts of this case but it needs to be made impossible to give the bupivacaine/fentanyl infusion into an IV cannula.
Unsuitable or offensive?