A 62-year-old woman given a transfusion with the wrong blood type early last month passed away on Tuesday at a Piraeus-area hospital after first essentially being declared brain dead earlier, an incident that revealed significant oversights at the specific facility.

An emergency investigation commenced by the health ministry found that a 30-year-old nurse’s assistant erroneously gave the woman, who was being treated at the Tzanio Hospital for a serious stoke, without the guidance of a physician or registered nurse, as the medical protocol states.

Additionally, the probe found that the victim was not fixed with a plastic bracelet placed on all patients and showing their names and details about their condition and hospitalization.

The reason given was that a special printer at the hospital’s neurology ward was out-of-order, leading to confusion. For instance, the beds in the specific ward where the woman was being treated were numbered in one manner by the nursing staff in the previous shift, with the subsequent shift’s staff numbering the beds in a different sequence.

Additionally, the victim was left helpless for some 45 minutes after the unnecessary and ultimately fatal transfusion had been given.