Loretta Macpherson Case Summary

A case of a 65-year-old female named Loretta Macpherson, who died after a medication error in Oregon was brought up in the CBS News in December 4, 2014. Ms. Macpherson was mistakenly given a paralyzing agent called rocuronium, instead of an anti-seizure medication called fosphenytoin. This incident caused her to stop breathing, go into cardiac arrest and lead to irreversible brain damage (CBS Interactive Inc., 2014). According to Dr. Michael Boileau, “that mistake, that error, has caused her death” (Moran, L., 2014). During the investigation, they found that the right prescription of fosphenytoin was done. The error occurred when “a pharmacy worker mistakenly filled the IV bag labeled ‘fosphenytoin’ with a paralyzing drug called rocuronium”