Can Blood Transfusion Mistakes Be Considered Medical Malpractice?

Blood transfusions are sometimes required for patients who have experienced trauma, surgeries, transplants and treatments for cancers or other diseases.  If the patient’s survival hinges on a blood transfusion, the hospital will sample and type their blood to find a matching donor. Improper blood transfusions occur when the blood has been typed correctly, but the wrong type of blood is transfused into the patient.

This type of medical malpractice can result in lasting injury for the patient, and in some cases, even death.  While blood transfusion mistakes are rare and steps are always taken to avoid them, they do occur and can result in the following injury types:

Immune Related Reactions

This type of reaction can occur when either your immune system attacks the transfused blood or the transfused blood causes an allergic reaction.  Often these reactions can result in minor issues like itching and hives, but there are times when an immune related reaction could result in anaphylactic shock.

Non Immune Reactions

Fluid overload can occur when a transfusion adds too much fluid to the body.  It is particularly common when no blood loss has occurred prior to the transfusion.  This reaction can cause injury to many organs.

Infections

There are tremendous safeguards in place to protect a blood transfusion recipient from experience infections such as Hepatitis B, C, or HIV, but it can happen.  This type of reaction can be considered medical negligence.

Blood transfusions can save your life, but there are also risks associated with them and injuries caused by a transfusion can often be the result of medical malpractice.  The experienced and knowledgeable medical malpractice attorneys at the McEnery Law Group can help you with a legal and medical investigation.