Nurse administers abortion drugs to wrong patient and is allowed to carry on nursing

19 July 2008 a nurse in Birmingham (UK), is allowed to keep her license to nurse even though she administrated chemical abortion drugs to the wrong patient.

The incident happened in October 2006 when the patient went for an initial consultation at Calthorpe Clinic, in Birmingham England. Apparently there was some confusion with the patient’s names, as two patients shared the same first name which lead to Nurse Ann Downer administrating the abortion drug Misoprostol to the wrong patient. The patient during the consultation never said she wanted to have an abortion.

"The registrant failed to carry out proper identity checks, and as such did not realize the treatment was being given to the wrong patient," said Nailah Mears of the Nursing and Midwifery Council.

The Daily Telegraphy stated that when the clinic workers realized the mix-up they contacted the patient and informed her to come back to the clinic. She was said to be distraught and "in pain and obviously upset". Doctors then suggested she have a surgical abortion.

The misconduct panel ruled that Miss Downer did not obtain the woman's consent to give her the abortion drug but the nurse was allowed to carry on practicing as a nurse with a three-year caution order after it was found to be an 'isolated incident'.

This has been a terrible mix-up resulting in the lost of life for the unborn child and possibly causing all sorts of strain and stress on the mother. Imagine not know what was going on and why these things are happening to your body. The clinics identity protocol when you patient is in the private consultation room is to take a full name, date of birth and address, this simple but thorough identity check was obviously not undertaken.

The question is should this nurse be allowed to carry on in the medical profession un-supervised? If you knew that the nurse that was treating you had made such an unnecessary mistake would you be comfortable to receive treatment from her. Far too many people fall ill due to wrong administration of drugs and uninformed medical staff. The only saving grace for this nurse is that she expressed regret and came forward and admitted her error as soon as she realized it, but I doubt this has been any consolation to the patient.