Coroner blames ‘rushed’ move to electronic charts for patient death
The resultant medication errors were missed by the GP, pharmacy and aged care facility, the Victorian Coroner has found.
A move from paper to electronic charts in an aged care home led to a fatal medication error after two patients were mixed up, a GP has told an inquest.
The Victorian GP told State Coroner Paresa Spanos he relied on the new charts for a medicine review but did not pick up that his patient had been written up for medicines for another patient who had a similar-sounding name.
His patient received a high dose of an antidepressant and subsequently died, the Coroner found, adding that the death had a “profound effect” on the GP.
According to inquest findings published this month, the aged care home in northwest Victoria contracted a Priceline Pharmacy to handle the move from paper to electronic records back in 2020.
