- I hear you had a rough night.
How you feeling?
- A lot better.
I blacked out and woke up in the ICU.
I had no idea I was so sick.
- Well, you know, I'd like to talk to you a couple minutes
about what happened last night, if you're up for it.
- Uh oh.
- No, no, there's nothing to worry about.
Though your trip to the ICU certainly
wasn't a part of the plan,
but you're out of immediate danger now
and you seem to be back on track.
Can you say a little bit about what you think
happened last night?
- Well, I really don't know much.
I came in because of having trouble breathing
so you admitted me,
then last night, I started getting woozy and really sleepy.
Next thing I know, I woke up in the ICU
with lots of people around.
Somebody said something about my blood sugar
being real low, but they wouldn't tell me anymore.
Then they said it was safe to come back to my room,
so here I am.
But from the look on your face, I'm guessing
there's more to the story.
- You're right.
What happened was that your blood sugar
dropped down to 35. - What?
- Which is why you passed out,
but we corrected it quickly and there was no harm.
- So what is it now?
- Last check it was 98 and you're stabilized,
but what I want to talk to you about is
why your blood sugar dropped so low.
It was upsetting to us and I'm sure
you're not going to like it either.
We made a mistake and gave you 100 units last night
instead of your usual 10.
I'm really sorry.
- Wait, you gave me 10 times
my normal insulin?
Are you crazy?
I could be dead.
- I know, you have every right to feel angry
and we're committed to understanding what happened
and preventing it from happening to anyone else.
- Well, that's great for the next patient.
But still, you could have killed me.
- I want to be upfront with you so you have all the facts
and answer any questions that you may have.
What is the most troubling to you right now?
- Well, let's see, maybe that I could be dead
and why in the hell didn't anybody in ICU tell me this?
- We dropped the ball there.
We wanted to make sure we understood what was happening
before we said anything.
We just didn't want to guess.
But now I know we should have told you.
- Okay, so what did happen?
- Well, I wrote an order to give you 10 units of insulin,
but the way I wrote it, it looked like 100.
We have several safety checks to catch
these errors like this, but in this case it slipped through.
I'm sorry.
- I can't believe it.
When my wife hears this.
- We try to be careful to make sure all our patients
get the right medications, but in the case of diabetics,
100 units isn't all that unusual, so it didn't raise
any red flags.
- Still, the nurse should have known better shouldn't she?
Maybe she should go back to school and try a different job
like waiting tables.
Or is this your fault?
- We all work as a team and we all share responsibility
when something goes wrong.
I have worked with this nurse for many, many years
and she is an experienced excellent professional,
one that I would trust with care of my own family.
- Yeah, unless they're a diabetic?
- I'll take personal responsibility for several things.
I'll make sure you get all the information that you need.
There will be an investigation and we'll make sure
we want to get your perspective over what happened.
It's going to take awhile to collect this information,
but I'll keep you posted along the way.
And just to let you know, I've already changed the way
I write prescriptions, and I'll work with other members
of your treatment team to improve the way we communicate.
There are several other improvements we plan to make
and if you're interested, I'll be happy to tell you
about those later.
Does that sound like a reasonable plan, Mr. Thompson?
- I guess, but I still can't believe this happened.
And how am I supposed to trust your team
not to screw up again?
- You're right, we need your trust and we let you down.
But I promise you, we're committed to earning it back.
We've reviewed all your medications to make sure
they're correct.
I hope you'll let us continue caring for you,
but I understand if you'd want one of my colleagues
to take over.
- Well, let's see how it goes over the next few days.
And what about the ICU?
My insurance company is going to have a fit
when they see this.
Not to mention my boss.
How am I supposed to make up for the time loss?
I didn't have any personal days left.
- These are important questions
and we certainly don't want you to suffer financially.
Can I have one of our administrators come by later today
to discuss this with you?
- Sure.
Look, I'm glad you told me about this,
but I'm still pissed.
You're supposed to be one of the best outfits around
and I still don't quite get how you could do this.
- I hear your frustration and maybe we should talk
a little more when you've had a chance to think about it.
I'll be more than happy to call your wife
and talk to her about it as well.