Children's Hospital nurse under investigation ends own life
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SEATTLE -- A nurse involved in a case under investigation at Seattle Children's Hospital has committed suicide.
KOMO News has learned Kimberly Hiatt took her own life earlier this month. At the time, she was still under investigation by the state in connection with the death of a critically-ill baby at the hospital.
The investigation began with the death of little Kaia Zautner last September. Kaia was being kept alive with the help of a Berlin heart, but she suffered a setback when a nurse in the hospital's intensive care unit gave her 10 times the normal dose of calcium chloride. She died several days later.
Then a Problem Solvers investigation revealed a series of medication errors at Children's. Following the KOMO News story, the medical director addressed the issue.
"We failed in our effort to provide safe care and we are devastated," said Dr. David Fisher during a news conference.
In the case of Kaia's death, the hospital determined the medication error occurred as a result of a mathematical miscalculation.
"As medical director, I am accountable for the safety and the care we take," Fisher said.
Children's launched a hospital-wide retraining program and the state investigated. It cleared Children's of any system-wide problems regarding Kaia's death.
But the State Nursing Board continued to investigate the actions of Hiatt, a registered nurse. That investigation has been closed following her suicide earlier this month.
Seattle Children's has never released Hiatt's status, whether she'd been reprimanded or terminated following Kaia's death.
Late Tuesday afternoon, the hospital released a brief statement sending their condolences to Hiatt's family and reiterating that the hospital does not discuss personnel matters.
KOMO News has learned Kimberly Hiatt took her own life earlier this month. At the time, she was still under investigation by the state in connection with the death of a critically-ill baby at the hospital.
The investigation began with the death of little Kaia Zautner last September. Kaia was being kept alive with the help of a Berlin heart, but she suffered a setback when a nurse in the hospital's intensive care unit gave her 10 times the normal dose of calcium chloride. She died several days later.
Then a Problem Solvers investigation revealed a series of medication errors at Children's. Following the KOMO News story, the medical director addressed the issue.
"We failed in our effort to provide safe care and we are devastated," said Dr. David Fisher during a news conference.
In the case of Kaia's death, the hospital determined the medication error occurred as a result of a mathematical miscalculation.
"As medical director, I am accountable for the safety and the care we take," Fisher said.
Children's launched a hospital-wide retraining program and the state investigated. It cleared Children's of any system-wide problems regarding Kaia's death.
But the State Nursing Board continued to investigate the actions of Hiatt, a registered nurse. That investigation has been closed following her suicide earlier this month.
Seattle Children's has never released Hiatt's status, whether she'd been reprimanded or terminated following Kaia's death.
Late Tuesday afternoon, the hospital released a brief statement sending their condolences to Hiatt's family and reiterating that the hospital does not discuss personnel matters.
This is a difficult situation, to me nurses are people who need to be strong in certain situations because they will be affronting a lot hard situation la this.
First of all in life things happen people made mistakes, it just that we don't understand how a baby can be given 10 times the dose she's supposed. Does the nurse took the decision by herself or is the physician who gives her the right. In this situation i don't think that the nurse should killed herself, she should have accept her error, and the responsibility. In the other hand, i understand that it is not an easy situation to live with it in your conscience.
So, I think that a nurse need to be more concentrate in what she is doing, and if she does not know how to do she should ask.
My sympathy to both families, its very sad little baby kaia died. I think this video was diverstating, and the nurse took her own life. I donât think the nurse should have killed herself, even though she made a mistake she should have accepted it and deal with the situation professionally. The incident happened because of mathematical miscalculation. The nurse should have double check with another nurse or call the pharmacy before administrating the medication. The nurse probably forgot or didnât know to practice provision 4 under the code of ethics which states,â the nurse is responsible and accountable for individual practices and determines the appropriate delegation of task consistent with the nurseâs obligation to provide optimum care.â Marshall D. M. Fowler. This is a lesson to all nurses, to be committed to their jobs and work as a team.
This is very sad . I dont think the Nurse should have killed herself. Yes she made a mistake , she should have accept the responsibility of her mistakes and deal with it professionally. She acts under a code of ethic and she should have known that the standards of nursing mention that nurses accept the accountability and responsibility that comes with the result of our performanceÂ
My condolences to both families for losing their loved ones. The public trusts nurses with their lives, and for a baby to be given 10 times the dose she's supposed to get because of a mathematical miscalculation, it makes people wonder how such an error can occur. The nurse has a primary commitment to the patient, and I am not trying to judge, but before the medication was administered, the nurse should have first confirmed the order from the physician because it might have seem peculiar compared to the amount she gave her everyday. The blame should not just have been put on the nurse either which resulted in her taking her own life. How about Kaia Zautner physician responsible for delegating the task of giving medication to the nurse? What happened to them?