Woman dies after doctors mistakenly inject her with embalming fluid

A Russian woman died in early April after she was mistakenly injected with embalming fluid instead of saline during a routine operation.

According to Buzzfeed News, Ekaterina Fedyaeva, 28, went into a hospital in Ulyanovsk, a city in western Russia, in March for a routine procedure to remove ovarian cysts. However, during the operation, medical staff injected formalin—a combination of water and formaldehyde - into her abdominal cavity.

Russian government-owned television network RT, reported that the mistake most likely happened because medical personnel didn’t read the name on the vial.

The doctors first tried to remove the substance from her body, but Fedyaeva fell into a coma so she was transferred her to Moscow for further treatment. Three weeks after the procedure, she died on April 5 due to the poisoning.

The doctor and five other medical personnel implicated in the death have left the hospital while the head physician was dismissed.

The incident is now being treated as a criminal case, according to Russian state-owned news agency Tass.