Patient verification means the patient is identified twice. Patient misidentification is the root cause of most fatal acute hemolytic transfusion reactions (ATRs) secondary to ABO blood group incompatibility. Blood banks and transfusion services in the United States (US) are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Regulations promulgated by the FDA have the force of law and are intended to protect the safety of people who donate or receive blood products. Patient verification is a safety priority as recognized by The Joint Commission (TJC) National Patient Safety Goals (NPSG) and is required as part of hospital accreditation. Additional international hemovigilance programs have also identified patient misidentification as a preventable patient safety concern. Active patient involvement in self-identification is critical to prevent “wrong-component-transfused” (WCT) events; however, it is not a substitute for the requirement of a second confirmatory pretransfusion blood type sample. Blood type specimen labels should be applied to the specimen tube at the patient’s bedside with active patient self-identification when feasible. The special problem of neonatal patient identification is significant enough that TJC has promulgated specific safety measures to follow before blood sampling and transfusion. By extension, many of these measures may be utilized in patients who are unconscious under anesthesia.