Canada: Man dies after 34-hour wait in ER

Despite him being drawn to the attention of hospital personnel several times and despite the presence of staff employed to check up on waiting patients. Basically, no-one gave a sh*t

It's an unacceptable tragedy that a man waited 34 hours in a Winnipeg hospital emergency room and was dead for several hours before he was finally brought to the attention of medical staff, Premier Gary Doer said yesterday. Although the 45-year-old man - who CTV Winnipeg identified as a double amputee named Brian Sinclair - was "a regular" at the emergency room, regional health officials say he was never registered or seen by triage nurses over the weekend until it was too late.

"The bottom line is we are not making an excuse for this," Doer said yesterday following a grilling over the incident in the legislature. "This is a tragic incident and it shouldn't have happened."

Sinclair was dropped off at the hospital by a taxi Friday afternoon after visiting a downtown health clinic, which is part of the regional health authority. Some hospital staff did speak with the man at some point, but it was not until shortly after midnight on Sunday that he was examined and pronounced dead. The cause of death has not been released.

CTV Winnipeg quoted a man who did not want to be named as saying he had been in the emergency room on the Friday night and had seen Sinclair sitting in his wheelchair, looking like he was asleep. When the man came back the following night, he noticed Sinclair's position had not moved so he told nurses and security workers, who responded they were too busy to check on Sinclair. He also told a security officer of Sinclair's condition, but the guard told him the case would be "too much paperwork." "The nurse said we'll go and check, (but) nobody ever went and checked on him," said the man. "We waited another hour or so and we told another nurse twice to go and check."

Doer said the province followed the recommendation of an earlier task force and hired reassessment nurses who are required to check up on registered patients waiting in the emergency department, but Sinclair was never even registered with the triage nurses.

"This system broke down and there were tragic circumstances," Doer said. The hospital wasn't short-staffed at the time and a re-assessment nurse was on duty, he added. Brock Wright, chief medical officer of the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, said he's baffled about how Sinclair could have fallen through the cracks. When the man was finally discovered by emergency room staff, Wright said he "had been dead for some time." "It's hard to imagine how somebody could be in the department for 34 hours and somehow it not be apparent that the individual was waiting for care," Wright said yesterday.

On cold nights, Wright said it's not unusual for homeless people to take shelter in the emergency room. But he said any potential confusion that may have arisen from that practice doesn't explain why Sinclair died without treatment.

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Australia: Lots of surgery on wrong patients in Queensland public hospitals

THIRTY-three public hospital operations have been performed on the wrong patient or body part in a year, with four of the bungles killing or permanently impairing patients. The deaths and permanent impairments were among 127 identified as being due to bungles in the hospital system. Queensland Health today released the latest patient safety report revealing a 30 per cent spike in reported incidents within the department to 46,990 cases.

Almost a quarter of those cases involved patient harm. Three patients died or were permanently impaired after surgical tools were left inside them while six patients suffered the same fate after being given the wrong medication. Seven patients died or were permanently impaired after delays caused by long waiting lists or the department's failure to order or sanction procedures.

Queensland Health strongly defended the results, saying the increase showed more staff were reporting incidents. The report covered 2006-2007 and was compiled as part of recommendations which came from the Bundaberg Hospital Inquiry report which called for greater transparency. However, Queensland Health Patient Safety centre director Dr John Wakefield was unable to exactly how many deaths occurred during the period.

The report showed 127 patients died or suffered permanent impairment, but did not provide a break-down of deaths or impairment. Dr Wakefield said Queenslanders should have confidence in the health system, saying the figures showed it was getting safer. "Sharing information in an open and honest way is fundamental to improving patient safety and building trust in the community and our staff."

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