She might have been upset by the mistake: A wrong patient error

At a hospital in Somerville, Masschusetts, two patients with the same first name were waiting in separate exam rooms in the gynecological clinic one day in November 2005. One needed a colposcopy – an examination of the vagina and cervix with a magnifying device and a biopsy. The other woman needed a routine, less-invasive checkup. A medical assistant accidentally switched the women's charts while hanging them outside each door.

One woman mistakenly received a colposcopy, but neither she nor her interpreter objected, according to the chief of surgery.

The chief of surgery said the woman had not suffered physical harm, though he acknowledged that she might have been upset by the mistake. A friend of mine who has, unlike the surgeon, experienced the pain and discomfort of a colposcopy, might argue with him….

Presumably this is less likely to happen now at that hospital, since staff now take time-outs before office procedures to verify patients' names and the purpose of the procedure.

Advice to people about to undergo a medical procedure: Make sure the doctor knows your full name.

Read another wrong patient story, or read more from the source article by Liz Kowalczyk in the Oct. 26 issue of the Boston Globe.