14 DAY TRIAL // They say that to err is human. Unfortunately for staff at a hospital in Australia, this is no excuse for the fact that, not too long ago, 200 patients receiving treatment here were reported dead instead of discharged.
The incident played out last month, on July 30, at Austin Health, one of the largest hospitals currently operating in the city of Melbourne, The Guardian tells us.
According to the folks in charge of running this hospital, the 200 patients were mistakenly declared dead due to a glitch in the procedure used to notify family doctors about the condition of the people in their care.
Specifically, it appears that, while trying to inform general practitioners that the 200 patients had been discharged the day before, staff at Melbourne’s Austin Hospital accidentally sent death notices.
Almost immediately after these death announcements reached general practitioners, Austin Health figured out that something was seriously off, and contacted the doctors telling them that it was all a big misunderstanding.
“We immediately corrected the error upon its identification. We apologized unreservedly to affected clinics who, for the most part, were very understanding about the error,” a spokesperson for the Austin Hospital told the press in an interview.
Not everybody took the news about this mistake lightly. On the contrary, many were quick to criticize the Melbourne hospital's blunder, and some even went as far as to argue that mistakes like this one proved that the country's health system was seriously overworked.
“Many of these GPs have long relationships with these patients and their families. It would have been distressing to receive such a fax, especially relating to the unexpected death of children and teenagers,” Dr. Tony Bartone said in a statement.
“It is unacceptable for failings like this to happen. IT issues must not undermine patient care or trust in the Victorian healthcare system. The incident highlighted that Victoria lacked a strong IT health system,” he added.
This is yet to be confirmed, but rumor has it that, before the hospital went public with the news about its mistake, one of the general practitioners who received such death reports contacted a patient's family and told them that they had passed away.
If this did in fact happen, chances are that this patient's family was by no means as understanding of Austin Health's mistake as the hospital claims the general practitioners affected by this blunder were.
Staff at the Austin Hospital maintain that, although unfortunate and blame-worthy, this little hiccup did not in any way affect patient care. They add that, despite being accidentally declared dead, the 200 patients were never put in danger, and that there is no reason folks should fear receiving treatment at this facility in the future.