Nashville hospital drug mix-up leaves 4 patients with severe complications

Four patients walked into Ascension Saint Thomas Midtown in Nashville on Friday, August 14, expecting routine outpatient surgery. They left with severe, possibly permanent injuries—the result of a medication error so consequential that medical malpractice attorneys are calling it among the worst cases they've encountered.

During joint replacement operations, the four patients received potassium instead of standard pain medication. Potassium is essential to the body in proper amounts, regulating heart rhythm and nerve function. But in high doses, it becomes a poison. It can stop the heart. It can burn through nerve tissue like acid. Two of the four patients are now paralyzed. One is in intensive care. The others face complications that remain unclear.

One of those patients is Glenda Dorton, 72 years old. Her knee replacement surgery itself proceeded without incident. But the medication error that followed has left her paralyzed, according to her attorney Mark Walwyn. He described her prognosis as dire and uncertain. In a statement on behalf of the family, Walwyn said she remains hospitalized, "facing a long and uncertain recovery." What should have been a day procedure has become an open-ended medical crisis.

The hospital's leadership moved quickly to contain the damage—or at least the narrative around it. Dr. Shubhada Jagasia, the hospital's president and CEO, said the facility became aware of the error the same day it occurred and immediately self-reported to state regulators. She claimed the hospital identified the cause and implemented corrective safeguards. She did not say what the cause was. She did not detail which safeguards were now in place. She said clinical teams are using "enhanced safety protocols" but offered no specifics. Hospital staff met with the families, Jagasia said, but the hospital would not share "specific clinical details" about the patients themselves.

That opacity stands in sharp contrast to the gravity of what happened. Clint Kelly, a medical malpractice attorney not involved in the case, described the injury to CBS Mornings in visceral terms: "Just think of like, battery acid, going into the most tender nerves in your body. It's the worst type of injury you can imagine." High-dose potassium chloride is so lethal that it is used in executions. The patients at Ascension Saint Thomas Midtown received it by mistake during what was supposed to be a minor surgical procedure.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is now actively investigating. The Tennessee Healthcare Facilities Commission alerted federal authorities to the incident. But as of now, the public record contains no explanation for how four doses of potassium ended up in the medication stream meant for pain management. No account of whether this was a labeling error, a dispensing error, or a failure in the chain of custody. No timeline for when answers might come.

The four patients and their families are left waiting—for clarity, for accountability, for some understanding of how a routine surgery became a medical catastrophe. The hospital has promised safeguards. The state is investigating. But for Glenda Dorton and the three others, the damage is already done.