Now a federal report says that was not the only mistake hospital officials made that day.
It’s been nine months since Loretta Macpherson died at Saint Charles in Bend, but for her son it seems like yesterday.
“There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about her,” says Mark Macpherson.
In December Saint Charles officials admitted to administering the wrong drug.
“We thought we were giving one medicine and we gave a different medicine,” explains Dr. Michel Boileau of St. Charles.
A fatal mistake, but according to a report by the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid services it was not the only mistake. The investigation also found that Saint Charles also violated patient rights and nursing protocols.
“It’s horrifying what they did,” Macpherson states. According to the report, a nurse in the emergency room did not follow the orders from the doctor to hook Macpherson to a heart monitor.
“They not only administered the wrong drug, but if they followed their own procedures, drug recommendations and their hospital policies, our mother would be alive today,” says Macpherson.
In a statement, Saint Charles chief nursing Pam Steinke says, “St. Charles and external experts determined that having the patient on a cardiac monitor would not have changed the outcome.”
Mark Macpherson has a different perspective, “it’s very clear that it would have had a different outcome if they would have had a monitor. She was right across the nurses’ station and alarms would have gone off that her health was declining.”
Steinke also writes, quote: “Loretta McPherson’s death was a terrible tragedy that still weighs heavily on our caregivers.”
For Macpherson’s son, it won’t bring back his mother.
Wanda Moore, of KTVZ in Bend, asks, “If you could say something to your mom now, what would it be?”
Macpherson replies, “I’m sorry I ever brought you to that hospital. I love you and I miss you and I wish we could have brought you somewhere better.”
© 2024 KOBI-TV NBC5. All rights reserved unless otherwise stated.