Complaining of shortness of breath and stomach trouble, Richard Smith was admitted to the North Shore Medical Center on July 30, 2010. In hopes of feeling better, the nurse who aided Smith intended to inject the patient with a shot of Pepcid but accidentally grabbed a syringe full of pancuronium, a drug used in lethal injections. Doctors revived Smith after he went into respiratory arrest but only survived one more month before passing away.
Smith’s family has decided to sue the North Shore Medical Center because the nurse who injected the lethal injection drug is still employed. “I’m mad because it seems like you can take a life and you don’t have to answer for it,” says daughter Vicki Jackson, Miami New Times reports.
The hospital also filed a statement in response to the family. “Our hearts go out to the Smith family for their loss. This was a tragic event that was immediately self-reported to the agency for health care administration. We conducted an internal review and have several new processes in place to ensure a situation like this doesn’t happen again.”
Unfortunately, the nurse still treats patients in the ICU.
