IQALUIT - The Department of Health and Social Services has said it is purchasing a CT scanner as per one of the recommendations from an inquest into the death of an Iqaluit woman who died from a head injury after the Iqaluit hospital released her into RCMP custody.

"I want to assure Nunavutmiut that my department will continue to work closely with the RCMP and the City of Iqaluit to improve communication and standards to provide quality medical care," said Minister of Health and Social Services Tagak Curley in the legislative assembly on June 6.

Elisapee Michael died at Ottawa Hospital on Aug. 13, 2009 as a result of a head injury, after being medevaced from Iqaluit. On Aug. 8 she had been drinking at the bar in the Nova Inn. She was asked to leave and was seen falling down the stairs of the hotel. After being sent by ambulance to Qikiqtani General Hospital and examined, she was deemed to be disruptive by hospital staff, who called the RCMP. On Aug. 9, she was found in her RCMP cell unresponsive in a pool of vomit and taken back to the hospital in Iqaluit. She was medevaced to Ottawa on Aug. 10.

A jury made 29 recommendations at the conclusion of an inquest that wrapped up on April 14 and found her death to be accidental. Of those recommendations, 16 were directed at the hospital and the Department of Health and Social Services.

March 2012 target

Many at the inquest suggested Michael's head injury could only have been diagnosed by a CT scan, technology which the hospital did not have.

A CT scanner is on the way to the hospital and is expected to be up and running in March 2012, according to a press release.

The challenge now is to hire a technician to run the machine.

"It would be great to have a radiologist on site but that's not likely to happen," said Bernie Schmidt, director of Qikiqtani General Hospital, adding the scans will be read by someone in the south.

Money to pay for the scanner, which costs upwards of a couple of million dollars, is coming from the federal government's Patient Wait Times Guarantee Trust set up in 2007.

Before the machine could be purchased, the bandwidth required for image transmission first had to be improved so the electronic health record system could be put into use.

At the inquest, it was also suggested Michael might have not died if she didn't have to wait overnight for a medevac flight.

Deputy health minister Peter Ma says the new medevac contract has an aircraft on the ground in Iqaluit ready to go at any time, and the turn-around time on a getting a patient to a southern hospital is better.

However, Ma said much has stayed the same at the hospital. It is still up to the physician in the emergency room to decide if a patient should be transferred to RCMP cells.

In late 2010, a two-page policy was created to ensure all parties know when and if a patient should be transferred to cells. Representatives from the Centre for Mental Health and Addiction in Toronto have since trained staff on how to handle patients who come in intoxicated or on drugs.

Many at the inquest questioned how "disruptive" Michael could have been at the hospital given her small stature.

"When people are disturbed, it doesn't matter what your size is. You can still be a handful," Schmidt said.

Security at the hospital was also a concern raised at the inquest.

Schmidt said there is one security guard on duty at the hospital at all times. Additional guards can be brought in if required, and, depending on the circumstances, an RCMP officer may be asked to remain with a patient.

There are two rooms at the end of the in-patient floor set aside for what the department calls "problematic patients."

Communication was also a major issue addressed during the inquest.

Staff at the hospital are now supposed to issue written orders and instructions to patients and guardians and all information is to be written on patients' charts.

Schmidt said they are doing the best they can.

"We don't know what's coming through those doors," he said.

He said emergency room staff saw 1,700 patients in April and 1,600 patients in May. Of these, on a monthly basis, 80 to 90 are intoxicated due to drugs or alcohol.

Many, including her family, are still wondering if Michael would have received better care from hospital staff had she not been drinking prior to her fall.

"Anyone who presents for medical care is getting medical care," said Schmidt.

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