07:16 AM PST on Wednesday, March 23, 2005

By MIMI JUNG / KING 5 News and Wire Reports

SEATTLE – Mary McClinton spent the last days of her life suffering and in pain. She had been a healthy, robust 69-year-old woman who went to Virginia Mason hospital to have a brain aneurysm repaired, but never came out alive.

Virginia Mason admitted it made a fatal mistake last November when a doctor accidentally injected McClinton with a highly toxic antiseptic instead of a saline solution or radiological dye. Both were clear liquids that got mixed up because they weren't labeled.

KING

Mary McClinton suffered a stroke, kidney failure, two cardiac arrests and a leg amputation over the 19 days before she finally died.

"We can't apologize enough for this preventable tragedy," said Dr. Robert Caplan, Virginia Mason Hospital.

"They all knew they should label and they knew that simply writing down a label would have prevented this death," said the McClinton family's attorney, Lawrence Kahn.

In the lawsuit the family claims that after the injection Virginia Mason continued to make mistakes because McClinton suffered a stroke, kidney failure, two cardiac arrests and a leg amputation over the 19 days before she finally died on November 23 of 2004.

Now, four months after her tragic death, McClinton's family is suing Virginia Mason for negligence and wrongful death.

Their attorney said they had hoped for a settlement. The hospital did not try to cover up the mistake or keep it quiet, and even issued a memo to medical staff saying, "While no single person is responsible, all of us are responsible."

The hospital also announced changes in procedure to reduce the chance of similar errors.

“Virginia Mason’s statement was public relations spin pure and simple,” Gerald McClinton, a son of McClinton, said in Kahn’s statement. “Apology is no substitute for atonement when our mother’s death should never have happened.”

Before she died, the family obtained a memorandum on the blunder written to Virginia Mason staff by Dr. Mindy A. Cooper, head of the hospital’s quality assurance committee, and Dr. Robert S. Mecklenburg, chief of medicine, according to the lawyer’s statement.

“Many were aware of the hazard in the system that could lead to injection of the wrong solution and aware of a simple method to prevent this occurrence,” the pair wrote. “No one took action to change the process before this tragedy occurred.”

"They learned very soon the apology was hollow, that it was more in the nature of damage control and PR spin than real contrition," said Kahn.

The family insists the hospital has not offered them any money, but Virginia Mason said in statement it "has approached the McClinton family and is ready to proceed with a settlement."

Mary McClinton not only raised four sons, but she also was a foster mother to eight children, and worked tirelessly in schools and churches as an advocate for disadvantaged kids.

Her family has started the Mary McClinton Foundation to continue her legacy.

If they win this case or reach a settlement, a portion of the money will go toward the foundation.

The McClinton family is filing the lawsuit Wednesday morning for an undisclosed amount of money.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.