A 62-year-old woman remains in critical condition in the Intensive Care Unit of Tzanio Hospital after receiving a wrong blood transfusion at the Neurology Clinic, where she is currently on her 20th day of hospitalization. The adverse reaction, resulting in hemolysis, has left her fighting for her life.
The incorrect blood transfusion led to the development of a hematoma in her brain, which has since worsened. With her stay at MED extending, her prognosis appears grim.
The family of the 62-year-old has obtained a report from the Health Care Quality Management Agency that outlines serious criminal errors and oversights that escalated a minor neurological condition into a life-threatening one.
The report identified eight areas of mismanagement, including breaches of transfusion protocols and compromised medical equipment.
As reported by protothema.gr, factors such as a malfunctioning printer, poor communication among nurses, and the lack of qualified personnel during the transfusion contributed to the woman’s distress. This occurred in one of the largest hospitals in Attica in 2025.
Protocol mandates that a doctor or nurse supervise blood transfusions, but in this instance, only a nursing assistant was present during the procedure, as highlighted by the family’s attorney, Mr. Athanasios Alexopoulos.
Another critical error involved wristbands for identifying patients, which were not provided to anyone in the ward due to the broken printer. This oversight led to confusion regarding patient identities and their medical histories.
“The malfunctioning printer prevented wristbands from being printed for the patients. Neither the 62-year-old nor other patients had wristbands. They were instead identified by bed numbers, which only added to the mix-up,” the lawyer explained.
The findings indicate that the systemic negligence that affected the 62-year-old was not a spur-of-the-moment mistake but rather a series of deliberate oversights leading up to the transfusion.
Reports indicate that two bags of blood were prepared for donation. The first bag was correctly administered to another patient at 6:15 pm on Tuesday. However, shortly after 1 am on Wednesday, a 30-year-old nursing assistant mistakenly gave the second bag, intended for the first patient, to the 62-year-old.
Furthermore, the report notes that the 62-year-old was left unattended for 45 minutes following the erroneous transfusion. It was only when another patient’s companion noticed her distress and alerted the nursing staff that help was brought.
“After 45 minutes, another patient’s family member notified the nurse that the woman was in poor condition. The alert was made to ensure immediate medical attention could be provided. Notably, the issues outlined in the report had been flagged as early as November 2024,” Alexopoulos emphasized.
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