BALTIMORE, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- A medical error has killed a young cancer patient recovering at her Maryland home from a bone marrow transplant, according to Johns Hopkins Hospital officials.
Brianna Cohen died two weeks ago after receiving an improperly mixed intravenous solution that apparently caused her heart to stop, the hospital said.
Brianna, the 34-month-old daughter of Mark and Mindie Cohen of Owings Mills, Md., had been diagnosed with an aggressive type of brain cancer in April.
She was given a solution prepared by the Johns Hopkins Home Care Group that contained nearly five times the prescribed amount of potassium, said Dr. George J. Dover, director of the Hopkins Children's Center.
Hopkins has shut down the Home Care Group's "infusion" pharmacy, which had prepared the solutions by hand at its Southeast Baltimore facility, the Baltimore Sun reported Friday.
Because an autopsy was not performed, Hopkins could not confirm the cause of the girl's Dec. 4 death.
