A routine knee surgery in Nashville turned into a nightmare when a hospital pharmacy loaded syringes with potassium instead of anesthetic, leaving a 72-year-old grandmother paralyzed from the chest down.
Story Snapshot
- Four joint-replacement patients at Ascension Saint Thomas Midtown got potassium phosphate instead of an anesthetic on August 14, 2026.
- The hospital self-reported the error to state regulators the same day and says it has fixed the cause.
- The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the state’s Health Facilities Commission have both opened active probes.
- One patient, 72-year-old Glenda Dorton, remains in the ICU and is paralyzed from the chest down, her family says.
What Happened During Routine Surgery Day
Four patients checked into Ascension Saint Thomas Midtown on August 14, 2026, expecting standard joint-replacement procedures. Instead, the hospital says a pharmacy error caused them to receive potassium phosphate instead of the anesthetic medication doctors had ordered.
All four suffered what the hospital calls “adverse health reactions.” The mix-up did not surface right away. It took days before the full scope of harm became public.
A drug mix-up at a hospital in Nashville, Tennessee has reportedly left two patients paralyzed and at least one other on a ventilator. Officials say they were given the wrong medication prior to surgery. https://t.co/kDfkVGl4Yl pic.twitter.com/rpXp1N7ALV
— CBS Evening News with Tony Dokoupil (@CBSEveningNews) August 20, 2026
Potassium phosphate is not a drug anyone injects casually. In concentrated form, it can stop a heart or damage nerves within minutes. Swapping it for a numbing agent meant to block pain signals near the spine is the kind of error patient-safety experts have warned about for decades, precisely because the two substances can look deceptively similar in a busy pharmacy setting.
A Family’s Devastating Account
Glenda Dorton went in for a knee replacement on August 14. Her family told local reporters she came out of surgery paralyzed from the chest down and has remained in intensive care since.
They believe the medication mix-up caused her condition. The hospital has not confirmed which specific patient suffered which outcome, but it has acknowledged four people were harmed in the same event.
Two of the four patients reportedly experienced some form of paralysis, according to family accounts shared with reporters. The other two patients also suffered serious complications, though details on their conditions have been more limited. Families of the injured say they are now speaking with attorneys as they try to understand exactly what went wrong inside the hospital’s pharmacy.
Regulators and Investigators Step In
Ascension Saint Thomas said it self-reported the incident to Tennessee regulators the day it happened and launched its own internal investigation, identifying the cause and putting new safeguards in place. That claim did not end outside scrutiny.
The Tennessee Health Facilities Commission sent inspectors to the hospital days later, and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation confirmed it opened a separate, active investigation into the incident.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation told reporters its inquiry remains “active and ongoing,” offering no timeline for when it might conclude. That kind of dual-track scrutiny, one internal and one from outside law enforcement, signals that state officials are not simply taking the hospital’s word for it. Given that a patient may be permanently paralyzed, that level of independent oversight is exactly what taxpayers and patients should expect.
Why This Keeps Happening in Hospitals
Medication mix-ups are not rare, isolated freak accidents. Studies of hospital pharmacies and emergency departments consistently find error rates ranging from single digits to nearly a third of all medication orders reviewed, with prescribing and administration errors topping the list.
Most errors are minor and caught before they reach a patient. But this case shows what happens when a serious one slips through every safety check meant to stop it.
72-y/o woman is paralyzed after getting an epidural filled with potassium chloride instead of bupivacaine at a Nashville hospital. She is one of at least 4 patients who Ascension Saint Thomas Hospital Midtown said were impacted by the medication mixup. https://t.co/RH43ExFkCo
— Charles T (@ChuckyT3) August 21, 2026
Patient-safety experts have pushed for decades to remove concentrated potassium from areas near operating rooms entirely, treating it as too dangerous to keep within easy reach during procedures.
Whether Ascension Saint Thomas followed that standard, and how four separate syringes ended up mislabeled on the same day, is now the central question facing both investigations. Families deserve real answers, not just a corporate statement about “corrective safeguards.”
Sources:
wkrn.com, wsmv.com, newschannel5.com, facebook.com, ejhp.bmj.com, linkedin.com
