Mother Died just days after Heparin Injection

Minneapolis, MNAround November 2006 Michelle's mother checked herself into hospital complaining of a pain in her leg and kidney area. She walked into hospital on her own two feet, yet just a few days later she passed away. Her medical records state she was given Heparin and Maureen believes it was from a tainted batch.

"When my mother complained about her pains to our doctor, he advised her to get an MRI," says Michelle. "She got the MRI but when the doctors looked at the results, they admitted her because it showed a dissected renal artery.

When she was admitted—Thursday evening--she was given an IV drip with Heparin, a drip rate of 10.8 ml per hour. It started at 7.30 pm and continued on and off for several hours. She was also given a Heparin injection, 1900 units at 7.45 pm on the same day.

I visited her at the 'regular' floor Saturday. At that time, the doctors told us they just wanted to evaluate her condition because they had also noticed a spot on her lungs. I thought she would be awake but I was surprised to find out she had been given sedatives, including anxiety meds and percocet—a pain killer. Then it changed to morphine.

I am afraid of drugs and had no idea that morphine was given to people who are dying. Nobody told us how ill she was. I noticed she was slurring her words and her fingertips were blue. She had walked into that hospital on her own—what had happened in a matter of a few days?

On Sunday evening I visited her again. They stopped the Heparin that day; the reason was because they wanted to do a biopsy of her lung and couldn't do the biopsy if she was on blood thinners. She was heavily medicated with morphine and her breathing was labored. Almost right after I left, she had a stroke. She was intubated but she had another stroke during the intubation, she was freaking out. She had a massive stroke and I think she had a heart attack at this time.

I wasn't there a lot because nobody in our family thought it was that serious. They put her on life support for a few days until my sister flew in, for closure. There was no brain activity.

We directly asked for a toxicology test because we knew something was up with the drugs she was given. However, they specifically did not do a toxicology test. The answer: 'insufficient quantity to sample'. They were supposed to do an autopsy on her kidney but they lost it—the word 'lost' is even used in the report. I asked the autopsy doctor how her kidney was lost; she claimed her helper accidentally threw it away. I can't imagine how that happened. The main doctor said it probably washed away down the drain…

But they did keep some of her eye tears frozen for a toxicology report. I called a few times to ask for the test again but they would not return my phone call. It is like they are covering up for something.

It was sometime after my mother passed away when I heard about tainted Heparin. I got a knot in my stomach: she died about the same time as the batch recalls. I guess they don't put the batch number on patients' charts. And I couldn't afford more pages of her records; I had already paid $100 for her chart records—they charge by the page.

I didn't talk to anyone at the hospital about tainted Heparin because I was sure they wouldn't give me an answer—they were so unhelpful with everything else. My dad doesn't want to deal with anything, it is too upsetting. But my sister and I and other members of our family want some answers. We want to know if the batch of Heparin given to my mother was contaminated. I'm hoping a lawyer can get all of her medical records.

The autopsy report also admitted that they could not rule out her blood platelets got contaminated, and could have been the cause of death. How can her one kidney filter out tainted Heparin? My mum was 66 and she had a strong will to live. She should have walked out of that hospital."