Saint Thomas Midtown Hospital
Hospital in Nashville, TennesseeWikipedia
13
MENTIONS
8
EPISODES
8
PODCASTS
Search complete. 13 mentions across 8 episodes found for "Saint Thomas Midtown Hospital".
Sep 23, 2026
NicoleHOST
all right so you're going to tell us the story and then i'll just elaborate a little bit at the end all right all right take it away sparkles
LauraHOST
so according to a september 3rd report from wpln.org On August 13th, 2026, a medication mix-up began in the pharmacy at Ascension St. Thomas Hospital Midtown, which is a very long name, in Nashville, Tennessee.
LauraHOST
The following day, four patients undergoing orthopedic surgeries were given the wrong medication in their spinal injections.
LauraHOST
The medication they were supposed to receive was Mepivacaine, which is like a Novocaine or Lidocaine, something that you guys might know, which is an anesthetic.
Elisa BradyCORRESPONDENT
And her family claims this stems from a drug mix-up at a hospital in Nashville.
Elisa BradyCORRESPONDENT
The family of 72-year-old Glenda Dorton says she went to Ascension St. Thomas Hospital for a routine knee replacement surgery and that she was given potassium chloride instead of the anesthetic intended for an epidural procedure.
Elisa BradyCORRESPONDENT
Her family says that mistake led to the paralysis.
Elisa BradyCORRESPONDENT
The hospital says there was a medication error that happened in its pharmacy and that three other patients were also impacted.
Catherine SweeneyCORRESPONDENT
Now, the federal government is saying if the hospital doesn't get a plan in place and then execute it by September 18th, it could lose payments from Medicare.
Catherine SweeneyCORRESPONDENT
Hospitals generally get about a third of their revenue from Medicare and Medicaid, according to federal data, so the loss would be a massive hole in St. Thomas Midtown's budget, one that would make it hard to keep the doors open.
Catherine SweeneyCORRESPONDENT
The Midtown Hospital plays a major role in the region's health care.
Catherine SweeneyCORRESPONDENT
Among other things, Ascension often boasts that one-third of babies born in Middle Tennessee are delivered at Midtown.
Blake FarmerHOST
They were run-of-the-mill joint replacements, elective procedures.
Blake FarmerHOST
But the hospital pharmacy at St. Thomas Midtown mixed up the wrong medication for the anesthesiologist, and so these patients had potassium phosphate injected straight into their spines.
Blake FarmerHOST
One patient told investigators that it burned like a liquid hell.
Blake FarmerHOST
and then came the paralytic effects.
Jennifer KrauseGUEST
But there were patients who were coming in for routine surgeries, as you said, many of them knee replacement surgeries.
Jennifer KrauseGUEST
the pharmacy got orders for the medications.
Jennifer KrauseGUEST
And what Ascension St. Thomas Midtown does, instead of getting individual vials like a lot of hospitals do, they instead buy it in bulk and they ask the pharmacy to prepare it individual into individual shots.
Jennifer KrauseGUEST
And what happened was they were preparing the shots The syringes and in five of the syringes, they put the wrong medication in.
Keith OverbayGUEST
She said, but don't go to Vanderbilt because you'll be there all day.
Keith OverbayGUEST
Go to St. Thomas Midtown.
Keith OverbayGUEST
She said, I can get you a ride.
Keith OverbayGUEST
And I said, well, I don't think I need a ride.
Keith OverbayGUEST
So I got on my bike and I rode to St. Thomas Midtown and checked myself into the ER.
Keith OverbayGUEST
And they got me in pretty quickly.
Keith OverbayGUEST
Like within an hour, I think I had an MRI.
Colton LordHOST
Actually, let's go here.
Colton LordHOST
So four patients at Ascension St. Thomas Hospital Midtown in Nashville were given potassium phosphate instead of the spinal anesthetic Mepivacaine during routine joint replacement surgeries on August 14th, 2026. and at least two have been left paralyzed.
Colton LordHOST
And you may be wondering how, because of how the medication was given.
Colton LordHOST
The hospital has confirmed the mix-up began as a pharmacy error.
Dan MandisHOST
have all the modern conveniences like you know chili's and all that it's got a chili's there's a logan's uh roadhouse out there um there's a couple of all the mud jones laughing at my definition of a modern convenience is a chili's
Sam RutherfordHOST
In all fairness, for the longest time, they had the one major hospital, which is Tenova, and I think now they're opening either a TriStar or Ascension St. Thomas.
Sam RutherfordHOST
One of the Tennessee companies is opening another hospital out there.
Sam RutherfordHOST
They kind of have a little bit more than your average small town in the
1 more episode mentions Saint Thomas Midtown Hospital.
Create an account to see the whole feed, search across every transcript, and follow the entities you care about.