Hapless hospital gives wrong family news of death
A hospital in western Germany made a mortifying mistake last week, telling the wrong family about the death of their loved one.
“We’re deeply affected by this tragic mix-up and regret most deeply that the family had to go through this,” the Helios Clinic in Krefeld said in a statement on Tuesday.
In the middle of the night the hospital had given a 48-year-old woman the news that her mother had passed away.
The 78-year-old was suffering from cancer and was being treated in the hospital, the Rheinische Post reports.
But when the woman arrived at the hospital with her father and daughter expecting to bid her mother a final farewell, she found her alive.
The hospital explained that in the same night a patient with “a similar sounding name” died in a neighbouring room.
When the duty doctor asked for contact details for the bereaved’s family, she was handed a document from the wrong file.
The hospital has apologized to the family for the unnecessary pain caused.
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“We’re deeply affected by this tragic mix-up and regret most deeply that the family had to go through this,” the Helios Clinic in Krefeld said in a statement on Tuesday.
In the middle of the night the hospital had given a 48-year-old woman the news that her mother had passed away.
The 78-year-old was suffering from cancer and was being treated in the hospital, the Rheinische Post reports.
But when the woman arrived at the hospital with her father and daughter expecting to bid her mother a final farewell, she found her alive.
The hospital explained that in the same night a patient with “a similar sounding name” died in a neighbouring room.
When the duty doctor asked for contact details for the bereaved’s family, she was handed a document from the wrong file.
The hospital has apologized to the family for the unnecessary pain caused.
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