Food Quality Issue Causes Baby’s Death – Deemed a “Medical Accident”

Can an equipment issue and an operations problem cause a quality issue that causes a sentinel event?

YES!

It did in Ireland seven years ago. And the results of the investigation have just come to light.

The Irish Times published the following accident scenario.

1. A computer on a production line at B Baun Medical froze (an equipment issue) and caused the line to stop.

2. The bag of adult food from the line was discarded.

3. The normal practice of flushing out the pipe that fed the line wasn’t accomplished because of “human error” and shift “changeover.”

4. The next batch to be produced was premature baby food. The Adult food that contained 126 times the allowed dose of magnesium (which was still in the pipe feeding the line) was put in the baby food packages.

5. This food was fed to a premature infant, and the result was permanent, irreversible brain damage that resulted in the baby’s death five years later.

The Irish Medical Board investigated the problem within two weeks of the incident in May 2003. But they didn’t release the results to the family.

Finally, seven years later, the family found out what happened as a result of a coroner’s inquest, which ruled the death a “medical accident.”

That reminded me of one of the Keynote Speakers at this year’s Summit on October 27-29 in San Antonio.

Linda Kenney had a sentinel event happen to her. The long, difficult process led her to create the Medically Induced Trauma Support Services organization. It helps patients, their families, and doctors communicate better and heal emotionally after a sentinel event.

To hear Linda’s story and learn more about dealing with the aftermath of an accident, attend her Keynote talk at the TapRooT® Summit.