Medication Safety: Josie's Story

Medication Safety

Tony and Sorrell King had no idea when they moved from Virginia to their new home in

Baltimore, Maryland with kids Jack, Eva, Relly and Josie that their story would shake the entire foundation of the health care system. After eighteen month old Josie suffered severe burns from a household accident, her parents rushed her to Johns Hopkins hospital where the family instantly fell in love with the hospital itself, as well as the competent staff of nurses and doctors employed there. Throughout beginning of their stay at the hospital, the King’s had referred to Hopkins as their second home. Sorrell had slowly built up close relationships with the staff, particularly the nurses, and even became active with Josie’s plan of care.

After her initial admittance to Hopkins, Josie was originally prescribed morphine, a powerful narcotic, to help manage her pain. The amount and frequency in which the nurses administered the drug made Sorrell feel uncomfortable, so eventually she was able to have Josie taken off the morphine and instead be given a similar, yet weaker, opioid drug called methadone. As Josie was put on a weaker pain medication, she began exhibiting signs of a drug reaction such as vomiting and fever. After running tests, doctors realized Josie had come down with an infection and began to give her antibiotics. A while

After Josie’s death, the King family was wrought with grief, sadness, and most importantly anger. Sorrell wanted to ensure that the hospital and staff never forgot what happened to Josie and their role in her death. As protocol, an investigation was done surrounding the events leading up to Josie’s death. A team was assembled, and eventually Tony and Sorrell were called into Hopkins to hear what they had to say. It was stated that the methadone given had nothing to do with Josie’s cardiac arrest and that it was merely because of complications. However, when Sorrell accused the team of knowing that the cause of Josie’s death was a combination of dehydration, administration of a narcotic and a lack of communication between staff, no one could argue. Eventually, Hopkins offered the King family a hefty settlement, which the family refused. Instead, the King family wanted to educate people about the danger of medication errors and how they can affect patient safety. Medication errors leading to patient harm are more common than many in the world may want to believe. One reason behind these errors is a lack of communication. Not only do all attending staff members need to communicate but their must be open communication between the patient and doctors as well. Dr. Marty Makary, a surgeon at Johns Hopkins hospital has stated that