Darrell Greer
Northern News Services
Chesterfield Inlet (Mar 21/01) - A nurse at the hamlet health centre acted appropriately in her assessment of a local women who underwent 11 hours of surgery in Winnipeg earlier this month, says the Nunavut Department of Health's Dr. Keith Best.
Family members of Evelyn Autut, 67, filed a complaint with the Health Department over the way Autut's case was handled in Chester.
Hamlet residents raised the money to charter Autut to Rankin Inlet for a second opinion in February, after the elder had been seen by a local nurse four times as her condition deteriorated.
Her son, William Autut, says on every occasion, the woman was assured she was not suffering from a major ailment.
When Autut was examined in Rankin, it was discovered she had gall stones and a tumour and was immediately flown to the Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg.
After almost a month of regaining her strength to face surgery, she endured the 11-hour procedure.
"The last time family members brought her to the local health station they were told to take my mother home because she was only suffering from gas and people aren't medevaced for gas," says William.
"We were told by the doctors if we hadn't taken action when we did, my mother would have died in 48 hours.
"I think that speaks for itself as to the level of care she received in Chesterfield."
An investigation into the matter was conducted by the Health department.
Upon reviewing the chain of events in the case, Dr. Best says only one important element was left out of the process, which could have prevented much of the Autut family's anguish.
He says had a family conference been called by the nurse after her second encounter with Autut, the communication between her and the family would have been greatly improved.
"In a situation like this, it's important to share with the family what you're doing and what you're waiting for," says Best.
"At the same time, they have the opportunity to share what they see happening to their loved ones, which may change the decision making direction.
"Aside from that, what was done by the nurse was good clinical practice in decision making and managing the patient's care."
Difficult assessment
Best says the nurse called for a physician's assessment on two separate occasions, once with a physician in Churchill, the other with a doctor in Rankin.
He says other areas of Autut's health influenced the pain she was experiencing.
"These other health factors made assessments by both physicians a difficult matter.
"The tests conducted by the nurse during the first and second encounters did not reveal any abnormalities which would lead an assessor to medevac a person."
William Autut says the nurse's actions did not help his mother and, in his opinion, were unprofessional.
He says the Autut family filed the complaint because they don't want to see another family in Nunavut go through what they did.
"We have a Third World rate health-care system right here in Nunavut," he says. "Our fellow Canadians outside of Nunavut would be appalled to know what state our health-care system is really in."
Autut is in stable condition while recovering in Winnipeg.
