Home left woman with broken arm for four days
By BEN FAWKES - The Dominion Post
13 February 2009
An elderly stroke victim waited four days to have a broken arm treated after being tangled in a hoist at an Upper Hutt rest home.
The accident happened while the 81-year-old woman who is now dead was being bathed at Fergusson Rest Home and Hospital.
The woman, who was paralysed on her left side and unable to stand or talk, soiled herself while being dressed by carer Mydamarie Clarin.
Ms Clarin, who had qualified as a nurse in the Philippines but was not registered in New Zealand, said she was in a hurry and decided to clean the woman by standing her up in a hoist.
The patient then slipped and her arm became entangled. Ms Clarin said she heard a cracking noise.
Instead of reporting the incident, she dressed the woman and left her in an armchair.
The rest home's guidelines stipulated that workers were not supposed to use hoists on patients without help from other staff and all accidents involving patients had to be reported to management.
The injury happened on August 9, 2007, but carers kept washing and dressing the woman for three days till nursing staff were alerted.
Four registered nurses then looked at the arm. All failed to assess it properly or give the woman pain relief.
One nurse admitted she should have given her painkillers, but "became too busy" and forgot. The woman's arm was not seen by a doctor until August 13. She was treated for a broken bone in her upper arm.
The rest home investigated and referred the matter to the Health and Disability Commissioner's Office. Deputy commissioner Rae Lamb found that Fergusson Rest Home and Hospital had breached the woman's rights through a systematic failure to provide an appropriate standard of care.
The Human Rights Review Tribunal also investigated and found Ms Clarin failed to maintain proper standards of care and professionalism.
Abridged
SOURCE: Stuff dot Co New Zealand
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