Face coverings contributed to a patient’s death in 2020 after they “aggravated” communication problems between doctors resulting in the administration of a fatal overdose, a coroner’s report has ruled.
The use of face coverings in one of Britain’s socialised National Health Service’s hospitals contributed to the death of a patient after a junior doctor administered 50 kg/mg instead of a 15 mg/kg dose measurement of phenytoin — an anti-epileptic drug — after he misheard a senior doctor’s orders which, it was determined, were muffled by a mask.
The victim John Skinner was admitted to the hospital in May 2020 after suffering from seizures, but later died of acute heart failure and phenytoin toxicity within 15 minutes of being given the fatal dose of the medication at Watford General hospital, The Telegraph reports.