Thai hospital compensates family with 30,000 baht after medication mix-up

[webfact]

A hospital has compensated a family with 30,000 baht after a one year old infant was mistakenly given the wrong medication.

 

The child, who had fallen and hit his head in the bathroom, was taken to a hospital in Samut Prakan province to have a brain scan. During the journey to another hospital for a second scan, a nurse gave the toddler a sleeping pill to prevent them from moving during the procedure.

 

However, the pill turned out to be TCA (trichloroacetic acid), an external-use medication for treating warts. This led to the child being admitted to the ICU at Ramathibodi Hospital. The hospital has since admitted its mistake, blaming the mix-up on similar packaging and colour of the two medicines, and has promised to conduct an urgent investigation.

 

According to the recent update from a Facebook page, the hospital has taken responsibility for the oversight and has covered the initial expenses incurred by the child’s parents during their stay in the hospital. These costs include travel, meals, and personal items, totalling 30,000 baht.

 

by Nattapong Westwood

Photo courtesy of KhaoSod

 

Full story: The Thaiger 2023-12-15

 

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[Geoffggi]

I personally think this is the very least the hospital could do

[Chris Daley]

I can play the operation board game.  Now I'm a Thai doctor.

[ezzra]

Life is cheap in this country, in another thread a women asking for 30,000 baht for a rape, and now same amount for nearly ending the life of a toddler and ect. ect that i keep reading on these pages, boggles the minds, but when it comes to high ranking graft and corruption, they're talking millions... 

Edited December 15, 2023 by ezzra

[Gottfrid]

Compensated? How? The only thing the hospital has done, is to pay for costs that would not exist if they did their job right.

[smedly]

the hospital DID NOT offer this pittance as compensation, it offered to cover expenses incurred by the family only

 

they should take this hospital to court and sue them for negligence demanding proper compensation in the millions of baht, this child has ended up severely injured 

[Aussie999]

Did I read correctly, a pill for external use.

[hotchilli]

1 hour ago, Geoffggi said:

I personally think this is the very least the hospital could do

Buy your way out of a larger compensation case?

[mikeymike100]

The 'nurse' should be fired, the hospital should pay all expenses until the child is 100% recovered, the hospital should then compensate the family 10 million baht!

I know it won't happen but...................

[Enoon]

5 hours ago, Aussie999 said:

Did I read correctly, a pill for external use.

 

This was a major **** up.

 

The substance is a liquid (acid),  used for skin peels, tattoo and wart removal, etc.

 

The pill story is ludicrous.

 

It was administered with a teaspoon, in a small cup, or by injection. Whatever way it was in complete contradiction to the way it is normally used....external only.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[CanadaSam]

Oh, well that explains it, similar packaging and the same colour.

 

Do these people even go to a school for any medical training, or are they taken off the streets?

[CartagenaWarlock]

8 hours ago, ezzra said:

Life is cheap in this country,

That's why you have travelled 10,000 miles to live like a refugee in a foreign land, possibly using a "wify" visa; otherwise, I bet, you would have stayed in your home country or in a country that values life. 

Edited December 15, 2023 by CartagenaWarlock

[brianthainess]

20 hours ago, Aussie999 said:

Did I read correctly, a pill for external use.

No you did not read correctly it says medication, but as your an OZ well .............reading may not be your strong point.

[brianthainess]

13 hours ago, Enoon said:

 

This was a major **** up.

 

The substance is a liquid (acid),  used for skin peels, tattoo and wart removal, etc.

 

The pill story is ludicrous.

 

It was administered with a teaspoon, in a small cup, or by injection. Whatever way it was in complete contradiction to the way it is normally used....external only.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Maybe if Thais in the medical field could read English, this would have never happened. Even the word ACID should be enough.

[Aussie999]

2 hours ago, brianthainess said:

No you did not read correctly it says medication, but as your an OZ well .............reading may not be your strong point.

Excuse me, but the article is very clear, quote " a nurse gave the toddler a sleeping pill ," and in the next paragraph, quote "the pill turned out to be TCA (trichloroacetic acid), did you notice the word "Pill."  smh

[brianthainess]

59 minutes ago, Aussie999 said:

Excuse me, but the article is very clear, quote " a nurse gave the toddler a sleeping pill ," and in the next paragraph, quote "the pill turned out to be TCA (trichloroacetic acid), did you notice the word "Pill."  smh

No sorry about that, slap me with a wet fish.

[Aussie999]

6 minutes ago, brianthainess said:

No sorry about that, slap me with a wet fish.

Consider yourself slapped... 555

[StayinThailand2much]

On 12/15/2023 at 10:55 AM, webfact said:

(...) blaming the mix-up on similar packaging and colour of the two medicines (...)

 

I absolutely believe them, but still would like to see a pic of both packages and medicines out of curiosity...

[Chelseafan]

19 hours ago, mikeymike100 said:

The 'nurse' should be fired, the hospital should pay all expenses until the child is 100% recovered, the hospital should then compensate the family 10 million baht!

I know it won't happen but...................

 

The nurse should be fired ? Wow. Glad we're all perfect otherwise we'd all be out of a job. Mistakes happen.

 

[mikeymike100]

2 hours ago, Chelseafan said:

 

The nurse should be fired ? Wow. Glad we're all perfect otherwise we'd all be out of a job. Mistakes happen.

 

We all make mistakes, I agree!

However not all mistakes are the same.

A 'normal or small' mistake would be something like putting too much sugar in your tea, or forgetting to lock your house when going out. No one gets hurt!

But when a person goes thru a red light, cos they didn't see it, could kill people and as this nurse did giving someone, a child, the wrong medication, could have killed the child?

Normally it takes two nurses to give out medication so this type of thing doesn't happen! So one nurse checks that the other nurse has indeed given the correct medication.

Maybe their procedures need improving, maybe its lack of training, I suspect we will never find out?

The nurse screwed up and it could happen again?

 

[Chelseafan]

12 minutes ago, mikeymike100 said:

We all make mistakes, I agree!

However not all mistakes are the same.

A 'normal or small' mistake would be something like putting too much sugar in your tea, or forgetting to lock your house when going out. No one gets hurt!

But when a person goes thru a red light, cos they didn't see it, could kill people and as this nurse did giving someone, a child, the wrong medication, could have killed the child?

Normally it takes two nurses to give out medication so this type of thing doesn't happen! So one nurse checks that the other nurse has indeed given the correct medication.

Maybe their procedures need improving, maybe its lack of training, I suspect we will never find out?

The nurse screwed up and it could happen again?

 

 

 

Yes, the nurse screwed up and if the child had died or suffered some lifeterm disalibilty I might be more inclined to agree with you in this particular case what benefit is it to anyone to dismiss her ? This wasn't deliberate, it was human error and IMHO a severe reprimand with additional training would be a better solution.

Medical malpratice happens all the time - are we going to sack every single practioner for every mistake they make ?

 

I agree a large compensation package should be negociated - Fines tend to focus the minds of those in charge to improve conditions and safety standards