Hospital: Nurse Switched Medication Causing Child’s death

TWIN FALLS, Idaho (AP) — Hospital officials in south-central Idaho say the child who died last month at a local hospital was given an adult dose of a saline solution infused with potassium phosphate.

The Times-News reports that seven-month-old August Dean Elliott arrived at St. Luke's Magic Valley Medical Center around 11 p.m. on Sept. 22. He died a few hours later. In a prepared statement released Friday, officials say a nurse mixed up the child's medication with a similar dose prepared for an adult also being treated in the emergency room. .

One nurse prepared the adult's medication solution at the nurse's stations and another nurse later mistook that prepared bag as the child's medication. Elliott went into cardiac arrest about 10 minutes after receiving the adult's medication.