CoxHealth admits patient received wrong blood-type

KY3 News has learned a patient receiving a blood transfusion at Cox South Hospital in Springfield was given the wrong blood type.

The hospital has not released when exactly it happened, who is involved or the patient's condition. CoxHealth spokesperson Kaitlyn McConnell admits it happened, but won't answer those questions. She says those questions violate patient privacy. The Greene County medical examiner tells us they have no been notified of any deaths related to hospital blood transfusions.

CoxHealth does say this is an "isolated event." And now, administrators are re-educating staff to make sure it doesn't happen again.

CoxHealth issued this statement below:

"A patient at Cox South received a blood transfusion of the incorrect blood type. This was an isolated event. Our highest priority is patient safety, and we deeply regret this error.

This mistake, which occurred in late March, was due to human error. In the weeks since, we have reported the incident through all of the required channels, both internally and externally, and have re-educated staff to reduce the risk of it happening again. We have an obligation to our patients to protect their privacy and therefore cannot comment further."