Nation IN BRIEF : OREGON : Transplant Error Is Traced to Nurse

A nurse’s mistake led to a man receiving a mismatched heart in a transplant operation, according to a Portland, Ore., television station. Station KPTV reported that a nurse in a Boise, Idaho, hospital misidentified the donor’s blood type when she notified Oregon Health Sciences University Hospital in Portland that a heart was available. The patient had to undergo a second transplant with a compatible heart last week. But by Friday he was out of bed and working out on an exercise bike. A hospital report said the man, who has Type O blood, received a heart from a donor with Type A blood on Aug. 14. The report said that in addition to misidentifying the blood type of the organ, the nurse failed to provide the hospital with written documentation specifying the blood type of the donor.