Family concerned over wrong diagnosis
Darrell Greer
Northern News Services
Chesterfield Inlet (Mar 19/01) - Health department assurances that a nurse followed proper procedure ring hollow for a family who had to take matters into their own hands.
Evelyn Autut, 67, started complaining of abdominal pain this past fall.
Her condition worsened and, during a two-week period early this year, she visited the local health centre on three occasions and the nurse in charge visited Autut's home on another.
Autut's son, William Autut, said his mother was reassured she was not suffering from anything major.
"They would keep telling us she was suffering from gas and send her home with Gravol and Magnavox," said William.
The family asked for a second opinion in February, when their mother's condition continued to worsen.
The elder Autut was too ill to travel by a commercial flight to Rankin Inlet, which was suggested by the local health centre, so the community rallied to charter the her to Rankin.
Autut was examined in Rankin, then medevaced to Winnipeg where she underwent 11 hours of surgery to remove gallstones and a tumour on March 9.
"If we hadn't got her to Rankin and on to Winnipeg when we did, we were told by doctors she would have passed away within 48 hours," said William.
"In two days, my mother would have been dead."
A Nunavut Department of Health investigation has concluded the head nurse at the Chesterfield Health Centre exercised good clinical practise in her management of the case.
Assistant Deputy Minister Dr. Keith Best said the nurse followed proper procedure in the case in trying to determine Autut's ailment.
"It's clear this nurse did a thorough job before the steps were taken to have the patient seen by a physician in Rankin and then medevaced to Winnipeg," said Best.
"The only thing which was not done -- which would be considered good clinical practice -- was for the nurse to ask for a family conference when she realized how high the anxiety levels were among family members."
That report has done little to ease family concerns.
"Our family is extremely upset with the way our mother was treated, regardless of what they (Department of Health) are saying," said William.
"We have a Third World rate health-care system in Nunavut."
