Barrow man died after doctor accidentally gave him the wrong drug

The Harper was being treated for a non life-threatening injury before the mishap

Arnold Harper, 56, of Barrow in Cumbria was reported to have been airlifted to Royal Preston Hospital in 2013 following a van crash. He was being treated and expected to make full recovery. But when he became agitated as medics tried to “log roll” him to put an X-ray plate under his back, Dr Pieter DuPreez was reported to have accidentally given him adrenalin instead of a sedative. Dr Pieter DuPreez is said to be a South African registrar who has practiced in the UK for 15 years.
However, after experts failed to agree over a certain cause of death, coroner Dr James Adeley said he did not have the required standard of proof to record anything other than an open verdict. During the four-day inquest at Preston Coroner's court, Dr DuPreez apologised to members of Mr Harper's family after admitted picking up the Noradrenaline pump instead of the sedative Alfentanil, the North West Evening Mail reports.
Dr DuPreez said: "I looked at the syringe pumps and I went for the syringe which I felt was Alfentanil.
"I can't remember exactly why at the time I decided that was it. Alfentanil has a sky blue label and Noradrenalinne is purple.
"It all happened quite quickly. He needed sedative quickly, I reached for what I thought was Alfentanil.
"I instinctively gave what I thought was the right one.
"I didn't want to upset you more. I didn't want to say it had been done in error to cause you any more upset and I am terribly sorry about that."

Scene of the November 2013 van accident

After the crash treatment, Mr Harper was transferred to the hospital’s Intensive Treatment Unit (ITU) and he was said to be conscious and talking. He was expected to survive but hours after being administered the wrong injection he was dead. The wrong injection made his  blood pressure and heart-rate rocketed and, despite efforts to revive him, he died of a cardiac arrest shortly after.
The inquest heard the drug was one of four different medications in a bank of syringe drivers at Mr Harper’s bedside in the hospital's ITU suite. Two were sedatives, one was for pain relief and the fourth, Noradrenaline, was to bring his blood pressure up following trauma.
Pathologist Dr Alison Armour gave evidence to the court which concluded that she didn’t know why Arnold Harper died but that she believed he didn’t die of natural causes and didn’t die due to his injuries sustained on the road traffic collision.
Dr Armour said: “In my opinion there was no underlying natural disease to account for this man’s death.
“This man did not die as a result of his injuries that he sustained at the time of the accident and I don’t know why he died when he did.”
However her evidence conflicted that of expert consultant anaesthetist Professor Charles Deakin’s who stated that the drug errors neither caused nor contributed to the death either in the form of the maladministration of noradrenaline or the failure to recommence the adrenaline infusion when the BP dropped.
When discussing why Dr DuPreez may have failed to note any of the coloured labels before injecting Mr Harper with the wrong drug, Professor Deakin described the case as “severely unacceptable”.
Dr Adeley did however conclude that the treating orthopedic surgeon, IT consultant and consultant anesthetist for the operation all stated that prior to the drug error Arnold Harper was not expected to die immediately.
The inquest continues.

Source: North West Evening News