MDH officials say nurse gave patient dose of morphine 20 times higher than prescribed

Officials say a nursing home employee was neglectful when she gave a patient 20 times the amount of morphine he was prescribed, leading to his death.

According to a report filed by the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH), a nurse at the Minnesota Veterans Home admitted to giving a patient 100mg of morphine, as opposed to the 5mg he was prescribed, resulting in the patient’s death.

The report states that an employee asked the perpetrator to help give the patient morphine, as she was unsure what to do.

The perpetrator then drew up five 1ml full syringes and gave the liquid morphine to the patient, the report said. According to investigation records, the perpetrator said she thought she knew the order, “that 5mg was the same as 5ml and miscalculated the dose.”

An hour after administering the medication, the employee asked the perpetrator about the dose she gave the patient. At that point, the report states, the perpetrator realized her mistake and told her supervisor she had given the patient 20mg instead of 5mg.

She did not realize she had given the patient 100mg of morphine until about two hours later, when she called the on-call provider.

The resident died around 3 a.m., the report states.

The perpetrator told MDH officials she “was in disbelief and felt terrible,” adding that the medication error was her mistake. She no longer works for Minnesota Veterans Home.

5 EYEWITNESS NEWS reached out to the Minnesota Veterans Home for a comment.
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