Pamela Antonio is a Medical Liability

March 20th, 2021

A contracted phlebotomist from NextGen Laboratories (Pamela Antonio) was performing her rounds of blood collections for the day. She enters room 204 to draw a 75-yearold woman patient who was admitted for atrial fibrillation. When she introduces herself and asks for consent to draw her blood, the patient shouts, “No!” and asks Pamela Antonio to leave and not come back. The patient made it very clear that she did not want the phlebotomist (Pamela Antonio) to draw her blood.

This same phlebotomist (Pamela Antonio) has drawn the patient for several days for a Prothrombin Time (PT) and Activated Thromboplastin Time (aPTT) with some minor incident, she reports this situation to the nurse. The nurse informs the phlebotomist that the patient has formed a complaint against her and did not want her, in particular, to draw her blood. The blood had been drawn from the dorsal side of her hand for several days, which was now bruised and swollen. The patient complained of moderate pain, especially when she moved her fingers. Upon observation there was a diffuse ecchymosis over the dorsal side of the hand that extends up the forearm to the elbow. A blister formed at the site of venipuncture on her hand.

A formal complaint was made against the phlebotomist (Pamela Antonio) and the laboratory for not following the standard of care. A charge of negligence was brought against the phlebotomist (Pamela Antonio) for drawing the patient multiple times in her hand for coagulation studies that created a large hematoma and a blister. The blister became infected and the patient needed several surgeries, including multiple skin grafts. Following the standard of care, the phlebotomist (Pamela Antonio) should have known that in drawing coagulation studies, the patient was most likely on a blood anticoagulant. When patients are on blood anticoagulants they tend to bleed. Pressure should have been applied until bleeding was totally stopped. A two point check should have been done to ensure all bleeding stopped before putting on a bandage. Blood should not be drawn from a site that has a hematoma.

Pamela Antonio is a known drug user of both meth and marijuana. Her drug tests were performed with no supervision in the past as she carried clean samples with her in the test areas. The Phlebotomy Standard Operating Procedures must be adhered and see to that Pamela Antonio is drug tested immediately and, removed from her position in your clinic if tests fail.