Blood-Test Checks
Sir, —It is to be hoped that everything is being done to reduce the effects of human fallibility in taking blood samples at Christchurch Hospital. In 1957 I was admitted for surgery, and my blood sample was taken by a technician along with that of another surgery patient in the adjacent bed. I noticed my name being written on the label of the bottle containing the other patient’s blood, and it was found that my sample bore the other man's name. The technician volunteered the opinion that his error could have had serious consequences. I wrote to the medical superintendent suggesting ways to reduce the risk in this matter and in the whole series of other misfortunes which I suffered, but received no acknowledgement “It is impossible to be 100 per cent sure,” sounds like continued complacency.— Yours, etc, VICTIM. March 13, 1964. [The medical superinten-dent-in-chief of the Christchurch Hospital (Dr. L. McH. Berry) said: “Our systems in relation to blood transfusion have been critically examined on a number of occasions and every effort is made to ensure that, as far as is humanly possible, there is no margin for error.”]
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Bibliographic details
Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30395, 20 March 1964, Page 10
Word Count
193Blood-Test Checks Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30395, 20 March 1964, Page 10
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