Australian hospital accidentally declares 200 patients dead

<span id="ctl00_ContentPlaceHolder1_lblNewsDetailMain"></span><br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuCwdcFDZcD7rEXv0pQLFOwWfXjQsZvTZcZeI2AtEnap-wDH5haZUC1sMUfxRIjzpGJTx20BEDHjvpR39G0nON26Rl7leVDp8aWUdx5l9jn-LZwzQy1v_gF9tJlmRHfUObVQfQR1Egvco/s1600/australian-hospital-accidentally-declares-200-patients-dead-1408011841-7251.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="277" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuCwdcFDZcD7rEXv0pQLFOwWfXjQsZvTZcZeI2AtEnap-wDH5haZUC1sMUfxRIjzpGJTx20BEDHjvpR39G0nON26Rl7leVDp8aWUdx5l9jn-LZwzQy1v_gF9tJlmRHfUObVQfQR1Egvco/s1600/australian-hospital-accidentally-declares-200-patients-dead-1408011841-7251.jpg" width="640" /></a></b></div> <br /> <b>MELBOURNE: An Australian hospital apologised "unreservedly" Thursday after sending out notices to the doctors of more than 200 patients telling them they had died instead of being discharged.</b><br /> <br /> The error by Austin Hospital in Melbourne was spotted within hours and the doctors were contacted, but not before at least one had called a family member to express their condolences, the Herald Sun newspaper reported.<br /> <br /> Austin Health, which runs the hospital, said the notices -- which were sent on Wednesday, July 30 -- were a result of "human error" after changes to a death notification template were saved to the standard discharge template.<br /> <br /> "On recognising the error on the Wednesday morning, Austin Hospital immediately contacted all GP clinics affected," Austin Health spokeswoman Taryn Sheehy said in a statement.<br /> <br /> "We apologised unreservedly to affected clinics who, for the most part, were very understanding about the error."<br /> <br /> Sheehy added that patient care was not affected, but the president of the Australian Medical Association´s Victoria state branch, Tony Bartone, said the blunder was "unacceptable".<br /> <br /> "IT issues must not undermine patient care or trust in the Victorian healthcare system," he said in a statement.<br /> <br /> "Many of these GPs have long relationships with these patients and their families."<br /> <br /> It would have been distressing to receive such a fax, especially relating to the unexpected death of children and teenagers."<br />

Australian hospital accidentally declares 200 patients dead

MELBOURNE: An Australian hospital apologised "unreservedly" Thursday after sending out notices to the doctors of more than 200 patients telling them they had died instead of being discharged. The …

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