A tragic incident happened in Karnataka, Vijayapura district, where a woman, who gave birth to twins at a government hospital died after administration of B-positive blood instead of A-positive blood.
The woman named Sharada Doddamani needed an A-positive blood post-delivery of newborn twins, but was administered with B-positive blood which led to complications following her demise on 19 March.
According to the sources, Sharada, a local of Dadamatti village in the Babaleshwar taluk of Vijayapura gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl on 23 February at the government hospital in Vijayapura district. After the birth, she experienced severe bleeding. The doctors at the hospital proposed a blood transfusion. Sharada, who belonged to the A-positive blood group was wrongly infused with the B-positive blood group. A few hours later, her health started worsening. The doctors immediately shifted her to BLDE hospital, a private hospital, where the doctors found that Sharada’s renal function had been seriously hit by the wrong blood transfusion. She passed away 26 days later on Tuesday, March 19. The twins are being taken care of at the BLAD hospital.
Dr. Shivanand Mastiholi, the district surgeon, substantiated the medical error after an internal inquiry. He said that they have dismissed three staff nurses Surekha, Laxmi, and Savita and Veerappa Jambagi, a blood bank technician has been suspended.
Dr. Mastiholi argued that Sharada made a full recovery within a span of 15 days after transferring to the private hospital. But, her health deteriorated, she is suffering from a lung infection, low blood pressure, chronic skin disease, pneumonia, and other illnesses. Wrong blood group transfusion was not the only cause of her death. He also said that they are probing the exact cause of the issue and further actions are being taken against the duty doctor Dr. Prema Nayak after the post-mortem reports of Sharada.
The family members of Sharada claimed that a case be filed against the hospital staff members.
The severity of the reaction can be varied based on several factors such as individual health and volume of blood infused. The symptoms include Fever, chills, itching, difficulty in breathing, chest or back pain, a rapid heart rate, and blood in the urine and it may lead to intricacies such as hemoglobinuria, which is the appearance of hemoglobin in urea, jaundice, renal failure, shock and even led to death.
(Input from various sources)
(Rehash/Lavanya Beeraboina)