NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — The TBI confirms it is looking into the drug mix-up at a Nashville hospital that caused catastrophic complications in at least four patients.
The patients were there for what were supposed to be routine surgeries.
As far as the TBI investigation, the TBI told NewsChannel 5 Investigates its investigation is "active and ongoing."
Meanwhile, the hospital still is not answering questions about exactly what happened last Friday at Ascension Saint Thomas Midtown.
But we now know more about the patients involved and what they likely experienced.
On Wednesday morning's MorningLine show, longtime medical malpractice attorney Clint Kelly was asked just how serious what happened last week at Ascension St. Thomas Midtown really was.
Kelly replied, "Well, on a scale of one to ten, this is a 50. I mean, it's the worst of the worst."
At this point, all the hospital has acknowledged, in a statement Tuesday, was that "four patients" were "impacted by" what it described simply as an "event."
But we have learned that it was so much more than just a simple event.
Families of the patients tell us the hospital pharmacy put the wrong medication in syringes that were to be used during routine outpatient surgeries last Friday, meaning at least four patients, who came in for joint replacement operations, did not get a standard pain drug through an epidural, but rather potassium, a drug often used during the lethal injection process because it stops the heart.
"Battery acid is similar to potassium and how it affects the spine. So you can actually think to yourself that's the injection of this medicine into the spine by epidural pathway might as well operate like battery acid. For lack of a better term, it eats up the spine," Kelly explained.
Kelly, who does not represent anyone associated with this case, said this then leads to cardiac arrest because suddenly the brain can no longer send signals to the rest of the body.
In fact, insiders tell NewsChannel 5 Investigates that hospital staff first began to realize there was a problem when one patient after another coded or went into heart failure. And because the potassium was pushed directly into their spines, we know at least two patients were left paralyzed, including 72 year old Glenda Dorton from Centerville, while another midstate family told us their mother, a 74 year old Nashville woman, remains in the ICU on a ventilator. And insiders tell us a middle aged man is also among the critically ill patients.
But how could something like this happen?
The hospital would only say, again, in its Tuesday statement, that it had "launched a thorough investigation... identified the cause and implemented corrective safeguards" and that its "clinical teams are actively using these enhanced safety protocols."
"The only way this happens is someone took a shortcut," attorney Clint Kelly suggested.
Kelly and those who work in the hospital pharmacy industry told us that what happened at Ascension Saint Thomas simply should never have happened. They explained that drugs like potassium have clear warning labels and that there are safety checklists that are supposed to be followed, safety mechanisms in the dispensing system and multiple sets of eyes are supposed to look at each drug before it ever leaves the pharmacy.
"This was a failure of the hospital itself as an entity to either police its own system or to ensure that its checklist, its safety protocols are enforced. And that's a hospital problem. Yes, the employees can make mistakes, but where they set up to fail, you know, how often was this system checked? Were the policies enforced? The training mechanism, was there somebody there to supervise to ensure that decisions weren't being made that were not approved? That's all institutional in the hospital," Kelly stated.
We know at least two of the families are talking with attorneys right now.
Meanwhile, the hospital CEO said Tuesday in her statement "I am deeply sorry for the harm caused to our patients" and shared that the hospital "connected them with spiritual care teams and ensured they have access to all appropriate resources and ongoing care needed."
And while some have wondered if what happened was more than an accident or negligence and maybe something intentional, right now there are no indications or signs that it was. NewsChannel 5 Investigates did reach out to both Metro Police and the District Attorney's Office to find out if either had been contacted or brought into the case or if they had an open investigation. Both replied that they had nothing at this time.
But again, the TBI is investigating. We are told the Tennessee Health Facilities Commission made the TBI aware of the situation Friday evening. And that’s when the TBI got involved.
As we reported Tuesday, the Health Facilities Commission is conducting its own review of what happened and told us they've had their own employees on site asking questions.
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