Summary
Ms C complained that the board unreasonably administered morphine to her during her admission to Woodend Hospital. Ms C complained that during her operation she was administered morphine by an anaesthetist despite being severely allergic to the drug and this being known to board staff. Ms C said this caused her to become very unwell and her admission to be extended.
We took independent advice from a specialist in acute and internal medicine. We found that it was reasonable for the board to have administered morphine to Ms C, and there was no evidence to support it was known that Ms C was allergic to the drug prior to it being administered. We did not uphold this aspect of the complaint.
Ms C also complained that the board unreasonably failed to obtain all relevant information before determining her complaint. Ms C said that when she submitted the complaint to the board, she referred to the attending consultant being aware of her allergy, and the doctor's views were not sought by the board before they issued their response.
We found that the board took reasonable steps to seek comments from the clinician directly involved in the complaint as well as to consider the contemporaneous record from the events complained about before they issued their response. We did not uphold this aspect of the complaint.
Related reading
View Decision Report 201803661 as a PDF (23.9 KB) Updated: November 20, 2019