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CANCER

Hapless hospital gives wrong family news of death

A hospital in western Germany made a mortifying mistake last week, telling the wrong family about the death of their loved one.

Published: 26 January 2016 15:06 CET
Hapless hospital gives wrong family news of death
Photo: Flickr

“We’re deeply affected by this tragic mix-up and regret most deeply that the family had to go through this,” the Helios Clinic in Krefeld said in a statement on Tuesday.

In the middle of the night the hospital had given a 48-year-old woman the news that her mother had passed away.

The 78-year-old was suffering from cancer and was being treated in the hospital, the Rheinische Post reports.

But when the woman arrived at the hospital with her father and daughter expecting to bid her mother a final farewell, she found her alive.

The hospital explained that in the same night a patient with “a similar sounding name” died in a neighbouring room.

When the duty doctor asked for contact details for the bereaved’s family, she was handed a document from the wrong file.

The hospital has apologized to the family for the unnecessary pain caused.

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STATISTICS

Norway saw fewer hospital patients in 2020 despite pandemic

Fewer patients were treated in hospital in 2020 than in 2019, with Covid-19 being the reason for the drop, according to Statistics Norway.

Published: 13 April 2021 16:25 CEST
Norway saw fewer hospital patients in 2020 despite pandemic
Illustration photo by Audun Braastad / AFP)

The decline in patients has been largest for those awaiting planned treatments, but the number of people requiring immediate attention also dropped too, according to Statistics Norway figures.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, hospitals had to prioritise differently in 2020 as a result of the increased need for intensive care units.

“2020 was a year marked by pandemics and restrictions. In many places hospitals have had to prioritise differently due to the coronavirus, and perhaps particularly as the result of the increased need for intensive care,” the report said.

This has contributed to a decrease in the number of patients in hospitals at all levels of care.

The number of patients with 24-hour stays decreased by 7 percent. The total number of days spent in hospital fell by 11 percent or 380,000 fewer days in a hospital bed in 2020 compared to 2019.

Hospital stays lasting at least 24 hours include both planned and unplanned visits. In 2020 planned visits accounted for 29 percent of all visits, which is a decrease of 16 percent from the previous year, while visits for immediate appointments decreased by 3 percent.

READ ALSO: Norwegian senior medic calls for geographical division of Covid-19 restrictions

The figures show a decline for almost all diagnostic groups, but cancer patients had a smaller decline than other groups.

Planned treatment of various forms of cancer decreased by 8 percent, but acute help for tumours saw an increase of 11 percent.

This reverses a trend of numbers of patients in hospitals increasing year on year. The increases had primarily been driven by patients at outpatient clinics.

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