Terrible error,' then a death
By David L. Beck and Julie Sevrens Lyons
They called him Critter.
When he was little, Chris Wibeto wore a Superman costume and acted out cartoons. He grew into a 6-foot, brown-haired kid with a wispy beard who loved baseball, Oreos, progressive rock and black humor. ``It's all good,'' he would say.
He said that even when he was in a Stanford hospital bed waiting to die, not from the non-Hodgkin's lymphoma with which he had been diagnosed, but from what his parents called a ``terrible error'' at Kaiser Permanente's Santa Teresa Medical Center, where he was given someone else's medication.
``This,'' according to a report by the California Department of Health Services, ``resulted in a negative patient outcome.'' It was a phrase that Critter, a fan of ironic movies like ``Dogma'' and ``Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back,'' might have appreciated.
Christopher Robin Wibeto, 21, died Aug. 29, three days after he received a chemotherapy drug called vincristine that, unlike the drug he was supposed to have received, cannot be injected into the spine.
A spokeswoman for Kaiser Permanente confirmed Wednesday that the hospital has reached a financial settlement with the family for an undisclosed amount, but refused to give specifics.
State and federal investigators are continuing to look into what went wrong, but said there is no evidence that there were any other fatal medical errors at the hospital in the past year.
Wibeto had been hospitalized for about a month at Kaiser. But on Aug. 26, his health deteriorated after he was given the wrong medication.
``We were told he would very likely not survive,'' Robin and Debra Wibeto, Christopher's parents, wrote in a biography published on a memorial Web site. ``We were in the room as the doctors explained this to Chris. We watched him receive this terrible news. His only reaction was to take a deep breath and say he understood.''
The Wibetos, a large and tight-knit San Jose family, are generally refusing to comment. The family's lawyer, Fabrice N. Vincent, declined comment as well.
Citing patient confidentiality, Kaiser officials remained tight-lipped about the case Wednesday, and also would not reveal whether any doctor, nurse or pharmacist involved in the error had been suspended or fired.
``It's our practice not to comment on specific personnel issues, but I can tell you that we have completed the initial stage of the investigation and have taken necessary measures to protect patients from having a recurrence of this type of incident,'' said Kaiser spokeswoman Maureen McInaney.
Staff members at the South San Jose hospital have since been trained in how to properly administer vincristine, and warning labels are now required on the toxic chemotherapy drug, McInaney said. The medication also no longer will be dispensed in syringes so that it cannot be inadvertently injected into a patient's spine, as it was in Wibeto's case.
Vincristine is usually fatal when injected into the spine, and a hospital safety organization had issued a nationwide warning about this danger in July.
Christopher Wibeto's brother Shane, 25, said in a telephone interview from Florida, where he lives, that Christopher had put in about a year and a half at San Jose State University and was planning to resume his education.
According to Brianna Wibeto's tribute to her brother on the memorial Web site, Christopher's current favorite bands were Incubus and Mars Volta. ``He was a fantastic older brother,'' she wrote. ``He picked on me like a brother should, he protected me like an older brother should, and he sacrificed like an older brother should, though he would never admit that to anyone'' -- just as, according to Shane, he didn't like to talk about the song lyrics he wrote.
Christopher Wibeto was born Dec. 29, 1983, and lived all his life in San Jose. He went to St. John Vianney elementary school, where, according to a posting by the principals on the school's Web site in September, he ``had a twinkle in his eye, defended the underdog and volunteered to help wherever needed.''
He played basketball there and at St. Lawrence Academy, from which he graduated in 2002. His principal there, Christie H. Filios, called him ``quiet and polite.''
He was working at Restaurant Depot, a wholesale supply chain, when he became ill.
About a month later, after he was given the wrong medication, he was ****.
``It could happen to anybody,'' said Gloria Rodriguez of San Jose, the mother of Christopher's close friend Ryan Rodriguez. ``We have to kind of take charge of our medications and what they're doing to us in the hospital.
``Before this, I just took it for granted that I was going to get taken care of. I never double-checked medications or doctor's orders. But I think we should.''
