A nurse gave the wrong woman a chemical abortion after mixing up two patients who had the same first names, a misconduct hearing was told today.

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The misconduct panel ruled that Downer did not obtain the woman's consent to give her the abortion drug but the nurse was allowed to carry on practicing as a nurse with a three-year caution order after it was found to be an 'isolated incident'.

Shocking case. She didn't even get sacked.

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Is that not why we all ended up with surnames?

Could maybe just about believe it if the had same surname, but their first name?

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Stupid isn't it, and an hour between appointments anyway.

If you are just about to inject someone and terminate their unborn child you'd think there would be several pieces of information to double check, including actually telling them what you are about to do and confirming it.

Not, "are you jane? ah good, *needles*"

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I was registered with a health centre where there was somebody else with the same first name, and whose surname had one additional letter. They never managed to mix us up - although they did get close, they also checked enough. It's not that difficult - talk to the patient.

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How appalling.

There is no excuse for that sort of mistake.

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Second

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