Tennessee’s largest Catholic hospital network admitted this week that its pharmacy filled surgical epidural syringes with potassium chloride instead of the standard anesthetic bupivacaine on August 14 — a compound so dangerous in injection form that the Joint Commission mandated its removal from patient care areas more than two decades ago.
The substitution paralyzed at least two of the four patients harmed, prompted a state health facilities investigation, and drew in the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation within hours of the incident occurring, according to NewsChannel 5 Investigates reporting.
Patients undergoing routine outpatient joint-replacement surgeries were accidentally given potassium chloride instead of the intended anesthetic and pain medication (bupivacaine).
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI), alongside state and federal health officials, has launched an active investigation into how the pharmacy mix-up occurred.
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