London A nurse was cautioned but allowed to continue practising after she gave an abortion drug to the wrong woman (Kevin Dowling writes). Ann Downer, 44, failed to verify her patient’s identity before administering Misoprostol, used at the final stage of a medical abortion.

Ms Downer, who was working at the Calthorpe Clinic in Edgbaston, Birmingham, realised her mistake and recalled the patient but the dose had already taken effect, the Nursing and Midwifery Council heard. The drug did not cause an abortion but the patient returned to the clinic suffering from stomach pains and bleeding and had to be taken to hospital.The patient then elected to go ahead with an abortion surgically a week later. The hearing was told that the clinic’s practice was to call out only the first names of patients, to protect confidentiality. Ms Downer however failed to then carry out the routine identity checks.

The woman was more than nine weeks pregnant and therefore not eligible for a chemical abortion which is administered only in the early stages of pregnancy and after an initial consultation.

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