title: Fatalities from blood transfusion.
abstract: From April 3, 1976, to Dec 31, 1979, one hundred thirteen fatalities were reported to the Food and Drug Administration as a sequela of the transfusion of blood or blood products. Thirty-three fatalities were due to posttransfusion hepatitis, and three involved plasmapheresis or leukopheresis donors. The remaining 77 cases were of three categories: 47 cases (61%) were due to "clerical errors" such as drawing the wrong blood specimen of giving the wrong unit of blood to the patient; eight cases consisted of genuine errors that occurred in the laboratory; and 22 cases were due to miscellaneous problems, most of which were unpreventable.
mesh_terms: D000059:Accidents; D001787:Blood Group Incompatibility / Q000401:mortality*; D001803:Blood Transfusion / Q000401:mortality*; D004211:Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation / Q000401:mortality; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000401:mortality; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000592:standards; D012127:Respiratory Distress Syndrome, Newborn / Q000401:mortality; D012306:Risk; D065227:Transfusion Reaction