Glenda Dorton, a 72-year-old woman from Tennessee, was left paralysed from the waist down after a reported medication error before knee-replacement surgery at Ascension Saint Thomas Hospital Midtown in Nashville. Her family says potassium was administered instead of the usual epidural pain medication, causing a spinal injury; the case raises serious concerns about hospital pharmacy controls and patient safety.

The incident occurred on 14 August and affected four patients, according to reports: at least one other person was reportedly paralysed and another required intensive care. Potassium chloride can be dangerous when administered incorrectly and has previously been used in Tennessee’s lethal-injection protocol; the hospital has self-reported the event, says it identified the cause and introduced safeguards, while state regulators and reportedly the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation are examining the case. Dorton has been transferred to a specialist rehabilitation centre in Chicago, and her family is preparing for the possibility that her paralysis is permanent.