‘Input error’ after doctor’s handwritten script change may have led to patient’s death: coroner
The patient who weighed 39kg was administered a 1g paracetamol dose on 13 occasions.
This story has been corrected. See footnote below.
A coroner has blamed an “input error” involving handwritten medication charts for the death of a patient from a paracetamol overdose administered following her surgery.
Sharyn Kaine, who weighed 39kg, was originally taken by ambulance to Calvary Hospital [*] in Canberra with a perforated bowel on 2 October 2021.
She was then transferred to Canberra Hospital for surgery. Before the procedure, a surgical registrar prescribed her a 1g dose of paracetamol qid to be delivered intravenously.
