Hospital sorry for transplant error

May 22, 2013

Queen Mary Hospital has apologised for an incident in which a blood type mismatch was made, the Hospital Authority reported today.
 
Secretary for Food & Health Dr Ko Wing-man said the authority will conduct a full and detailed investigation into the underlying cause of such a serious mistake.
 
The incident involves a 58-year-old woman patient with critical end-stage heart failure who received a heart transplant at the hospital yesterday.
 
After the operation, it was found that the blood type of the patient (A) did not match that of the donor (AB).
 
The patient is now in serious condition in the intensive care unit, where she is being treated to minimise the chance of rejection.
 
The hospital has given a full account of the incident and apologised to the patient’s family. It also expressed deep regret to the donor's family for not making the best use of the organ.
 
The hospital reported the incident to the Hospital Authority through the Advanced Incident Reporting System.
 
Dr Ko urged the public to continue to support organ donation, as it helps many patients in need. He also said it is important to find out what caused the incident, to avoid similar occurrences in future.