Hospital apologizes after pain med kills autistic teen
SEATTLE -- The family of a 15-year-old boy who came to Seattle Children's Hospital for routine dental surgery says the painkiller patch he was sent home with killed him.
Michael Blankenship is autistic and couldn't speak or take oral medications, so doctors prescribed a patch containing the powerful painkiller fentanyl following the March surgery.
The patch, which was placed on his back, is typically used on cancer patients or people with a narcotics tolerance.
Michael died of a narcotics overdose, and his family has filed a claim against the hospital for more than a million dollars.
The hospital has apologized and said its staff is horrified by what officials called a "fatal medication error." As a safeguard, Children's says it will no longer prescribe fentanyl without a pain management specialist's signoff.
"It's not our practice to use it for post operative pain medicine. It's our practice to do double and triple checks, and we did all of those things," Children's Hospital Medical Director Dr. David Fisher said. "But we didn't have in place, we now do, something that said 'is fentanyl being used for the right reason?'"
Fisher said the method and dosage of the drug were inappropriate.
"The patient died at home on the night of surgery from an inadvertent narcotics overdose," Fisher said. "We can never bring back this child and can't fully understand to what level we have devastated this family."
The hospital is not disciplining the doctor or the medical team, saying no one intended to harm the boy and, until now, there was no process to determine if fentanyl was being used for the right person.
Michael was a regular patient at the hospital, and attended special-education classes in Kent. His family is seeking more than an apology.
"It's all great and fine that the hospital is changing procedures, but the aftermath of this reckless mistake will go on for years if not forever," said Chris Davis, an attorney for the boy's family.
"When a physician prescribes a dangerous fentanyl pain patch without first checking to see if its appropriate - not even bothering to call a colleague or the pharmacist - that, to me, is reckless."
In 2007, the Food and Drug Administration warned of repeated improper use of fentanyl patches.
Michael Blankenship is autistic and couldn't speak or take oral medications, so doctors prescribed a patch containing the powerful painkiller fentanyl following the March surgery.
The patch, which was placed on his back, is typically used on cancer patients or people with a narcotics tolerance.
Michael died of a narcotics overdose, and his family has filed a claim against the hospital for more than a million dollars.
The hospital has apologized and said its staff is horrified by what officials called a "fatal medication error." As a safeguard, Children's says it will no longer prescribe fentanyl without a pain management specialist's signoff.
"It's not our practice to use it for post operative pain medicine. It's our practice to do double and triple checks, and we did all of those things," Children's Hospital Medical Director Dr. David Fisher said. "But we didn't have in place, we now do, something that said 'is fentanyl being used for the right reason?'"
Fisher said the method and dosage of the drug were inappropriate.
"The patient died at home on the night of surgery from an inadvertent narcotics overdose," Fisher said. "We can never bring back this child and can't fully understand to what level we have devastated this family."
The hospital is not disciplining the doctor or the medical team, saying no one intended to harm the boy and, until now, there was no process to determine if fentanyl was being used for the right person.
Michael was a regular patient at the hospital, and attended special-education classes in Kent. His family is seeking more than an apology.
"It's all great and fine that the hospital is changing procedures, but the aftermath of this reckless mistake will go on for years if not forever," said Chris Davis, an attorney for the boy's family.
"When a physician prescribes a dangerous fentanyl pain patch without first checking to see if its appropriate - not even bothering to call a colleague or the pharmacist - that, to me, is reckless."
In 2007, the Food and Drug Administration warned of repeated improper use of fentanyl patches.