Technician charged in fatal injection with cleaning solution

A doctor's assistant has been charged with unprofessional conduct in the death of a patient who was mistakenly injected with a cleaning solution.

The state Health Department announced the charge today against Carl Dorsey, a radio logic technologist at Virginia Mason Hospital in Seattle. Dorsey prepared the syringe that Dr. David Robinson used to inject patient Mary McClinton, 69, of Everett, who died Nov. 23, 2004.

The Health Department did not charge Robinson because the syringe Dorsey gave him was labeled as a contrast dye for X-rays. When Dorsey prepared it, he had the antiseptic and the contrast dye on his work tray; both are clear liquids and were in unmarked containers, the Health Department said.

Dorsey will have an opportunity to respond to the charge and to request a settlement or hearing in the matter. He could lose his license if the charge is sustained.

McClinton, a social worker who reared four sons and cared for eight foster children, went to Virginia Mason to undergo a non-surgical procedure for treatment of a brain aneurysm. At the conclusion, instead of being injected with a saline solution or radiological dye, she was mistakenly given chlorhexidine, a toxic antiseptic used to clean the skin.

She died after 19 days of constant pain, a stroke, two heart attacks and an unsuccessful attempt to save her life by amputating her lower leg.

Virginia Mason apologized to McClinton's family for her death. The family sued, calling the apology "public relations."

The hospital settled for an undisclosed amount.