Woman dies after receiving wrong blood type for transfusion, St. Luke's Hospital says

A patient at St. Luke’s Hospital died after allegedly receiving a transfusion of the wrong blood type, according to hospital officials.

According to Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center President Doug Lawson, a report that was issued says there were deficiencies when it came to the patient's care.

In a statement, Lawson said the Baylor St. Luke’s team “describe patient care activities that simply does not meet our standards or expectations.”

“These findings are the initial results from a review by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) of a patient death following a blood transfusion error in the Emergency Department. CMS reviewers found significant deficiencies that led to this incident in December. It is our responsibility to learn from these mistakes, and we take this responsibility very seriously. An incident like this should never happen,” Lawson continued.

According to the report, a 75-year-old woman was admitted to the hospital after having a brain hemorrhage. After receiving a blood transfusion, the woman started having complications. Her blood type was allegedly B+, but she was given A+ plasma.

The report says the woman endured four cardiac arrests within three hours. She died the next day.

Lawson says the hospital has outlined a "number of corrections" and is putting together major initiatives following the incident.