hospital pragueA tragedy has struck a hospital in the Czech Republic when an abortion was mistakenly performed on the wrong patient. An Asian woman only came for a routine check-up, but lost her unborn child due to a catastrophic blunder by doctors.
The healthy woman, who was four months pregnant, was anesthetized at the Bulovka Hospital in Prague last Monday and underwent a gynecological procedure. This involved removing pregnancy tissue, which resulted in a miscarriage. This operation was actually intended for another Asian woman, who had to come in for her procedure on the same day.
The tragic misunderstanding was due to a language barrier, the Czech news channel reported CNN Prima News. The patient allegedly did not speak German and was therefore misunderstood. She nevertheless signed the statement in which she gave permission for the procedure, even though it contained the name of the other patient. The healthy woman would have been addressed with that same – wrong – name even on the operating table. “A Czech patient would never have allowed this,” said Jan Prada, chairman of the medical organization Czech Medical Chamber. “The biggest problem is that this woman ended up on the operating table in the first place.”
The woman’s lawyer, Dagmar Raupachová, does not think the language barrier is an excuse. “The staff should have realized that the patient did not understand the contents of the statement.” The counsel states that the doctors could have prevented the error by, for example, hiring an interpreter.
Big news
The blunder is big news in the Czech Republic. The Ministry of Health expresses its ‘deep regret’ to the patient and the entire family, said Ondřej Jakob, spokesperson for the ministry. “There was an inexcusable human error and those responsible have been removed from service.” Minister Kamal Farhan believes that the woman should be compensated. “However, no one can financially compensate the loss suffered by the mother,” he added.
The hospital has since apologized to the family and is prepared to compensate the patient appropriately, according to a statement. The police will also initiate criminal proceedings and take appropriate action against those involved. The doctors who performed the abortion have been temporarily suspended, pending further developments in the ongoing police investigation.
Abortion is legal in the Czech Republic up to 12 weeks. If there are medical complications, a woman can legally have the child removed up to 24 weeks.
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