Teen's hospital death avoidable, coroner says

VICTORIA, B.C. - The death of a 17-year-old Vancouver Island girl admitted to a hospital with a broken leg was an accident but preventable, the British Columbia coroner's service said in a report.

Natasha Rai's family has hired a lawyer, who said a lawsuit was planned. Family members declined comment.

The coroner's report said Rai was taken to Victoria General Hospital's emergency room Nov. 19 after a car crash. X-rays determined she had a broken leg, and she was admitted for surgery.

But the emergency-room doctor had trouble inserting a catheter into her veins to administer drugs and pain medication. He managed to get one into her jugular vein but the catheter was inserted too far, the report said.

The tip ended up being pushed inside Rai's heart and eroded a hole in her heart before doctors figured out what was happening four days later.

Rai was operated on and the damage to her heart was repaired but shortly after the operation, her heart stopped beating. Efforts to revive her were unsuccessful, and she was pronounced dead Nov. 24.

The coroner noted a series of omissions and assumptions that resulted in overlooking the bad position of the catheter, even though standard practice calls for an X-ray confirmation of its correct position.