The tragic incident occurred at São João de Meriti Hospital in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Specifically, 80-year-old Palmerina Pires Ribeiro passed away after a nursing intern mistakenly injected milk coffee into her vein instead of administering a blood transfusion as prescribed by the doctor.

The nurse, Rejane Moreira Telles, was only 23 years old and had just three days of working experience at the hospital when the mistake happened. Less than an hour after the injection, Mrs. Ribeiro was pronounced dead.

The nurse had mistaken the milk coffee for blood, leading to the heartbreaking outcome.
Image for illustration: Getty Images

According to Mrs. Ribeiro’s daughter, she witnessed the entire event. “I saw my mother become agitated and gasp as the young nurse injected half a cup of milk coffee into her vein,” she recalled.

Dr. Armando Carreir, a nutrition specialist at the Federal Fluminense University affiliated with Antonio Pedro Hospital, explained that when coffee is injected into the bloodstream, it travels directly to the heart and lungs, causing respiratory failure, which led to the patient's death.

When asked about the serious mistake, Nurse Telles gave a televised interview on Brazil’s Globo's Fantastico TV that sparked public outrage.

“Anyone would be confused seeing milk coffee and blood placed next to each other. I was never trained for a situation like that,” she said.

Following the incident, Telles, along with two other nurses and a student, was prosecuted for manslaughter.

In the medical field, even minor mistakes can result in severe consequences, sometimes endangering patients' lives. What’s even more alarming is when such tragedies stem not from unavoidable circumstances but from negligence, inexperience, or lack of competence among medical staff.

Cases like wrong-site surgeries, incorrect prescriptions, misdiagnoses, or surgical tools left inside a patient's body not only harm health but become haunting fears for many.

These mistakes cannot be brushed off as mere “professional accidents.” In many instances, they are the result of carelessness, irresponsibility, or a lack of professional ethics. Patients place their full trust—and lives—in the hands of doctors, but sometimes, the very people meant to protect them become the cause of tragedy.

To minimize such errors, it's essential not only to improve the medical team’s expertise but also to ensure strict supervision and transparency throughout the treatment process. More importantly, professional ethics must be held to the highest standard—because medicine is not only a science but a mission to protect human life across the globe.