Report on Alberta Children's Hospital errors coming this afternoon

CALGARY - A report into several medication errors at the Alberta Children’s Hospital — including two non-fatal drug overdoses in young patients — will be released this afternoon.

Last June, the Health Quality Council of Alberta started an independent investigation into four significant drug mistakes, which occurred in late February and early March 2009. It was submitted to Alberta Health Services last fall.

Officials at the superboard said the report will be made public at a press conference this afternoon.

The errors — which aren’t related — included an accidental overdose of a narcotic, an accidental overdose of a drug to suppress the immune system, and one case where a medication was incorrectly administered through an intravenous line instead of through a tube to the stomach.

The errors involved young children whose names have never been released and current health status is not known. No deaths occurred as a result of the mistakes.