Doctors at a Hollywood private hospital delayed delayed resuscitating a woman having a heart attack for several minutes after confusing her with another patient with the same first name.
The Perth woman in her 50s suffered cardiac arrest while staying at the Hollywood Private Hospital in central Perth and her CPR was delayed by about four minutes after a staff member mistakenly found she had a ‘do-not-resuscitate’ (DNR) order on her file.
Meanwhile, the file actually belonged to a woman in her 80s who was staying at the same facility and shared a similar health file name, The West reports.
Both women had the same first name and first letter of their surnames.
The female patient from Perth spent a fortnight at the hospital recovering from the incident before she was discharged.
A Hollywood Private Hospital spokeswoman said it is ‘thoroughly investigating’ how the two women’s files were swapped.
It is understood a staff member took the wrong paper-based file into the patient’s room.
‘The hospital understands the patient, who has since been discharged, is recovering well,’ the spokeswoman said.
‘We will await the outcome of the investigation and implement any recommendations that arise as a result.’
