Brenan ‘vivacious, engaging’ just days before death, says doctor

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This article was published 13/05/2015 (4178 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Hospital physio and occupational therapists who assessed Heather Brenan before she was sent home said she was easily winded and wouldn’t have recommended letting her leave until she breathed easier.

“She was able to do everything but she became short of breath really quickly,” said occupational therapist Ali Collins, who assessed the 68-year-old woman at Seven Oaks General Hospital.

Brenan arrived at the hospital’s emergency room on Jan. 24, 2012, dehydrated, weak and having trouble swallowing. Tests were ordered and she was put on an IV for fluids and given oxygen to help her breathe, Collins recalled.

“She needed to have all these things gone before she could leave the hospital,” Collins said.

Less than two days later, Brenan was sent home from hospital late at night in a taxi. She collapsed on her doorstep, was taken by ambulance back to Seven Oaks and died from a blood clot that had moved to her lungs.

Manitoba’s chief medical examiner called for an inquest in 2013 to look into Brenan’s death and to “examine hospital policy regarding the discharge of patients at night, particularly those who are elderly, frail and who reside alone.”

The inquest began Monday and is scheduled to sit for three weeks.

Emergency room Dr. Mark Schneider testified Wednesday he was “surprised” when Brenan was rushed back to Seven Oaks General Hospital “very ill” and unable to breathe on the night of Jan. 27, 2012. Schneider said he remembered speaking with her two days earlier.

“She struck me as a very lively, vivacious and engaging person… She was just delightful to work with.”

On the night of Jan. 27, 2012, he was one of the doctors on duty in the ER when she returned and hours before she died.

“I was so surprised,” Schneider recalled. “This is Ms. Brenan?” He recalled her being “vivacious” and didn’t know another doctor had sent her home.

He was waiting for medical test results and had earlier ordered mobility assessments for her by occupational therapist Collins and physiotherapist Deb Prideaux.

Prideaux testified Wednesday that Brenan was puzzled by the doctor ordering the assessments. “She was pleasant,” Prideaux said, “but she wasn’t sure why we were there… She asked ‘Why would you be doing that when it’s my throat that’s bothering me?’”

Prideaux said Brenan, with the help of supplemental oxygen, was able to walk down the hall using a walker but “was panting by the time we got to the bathroom.”

“I wouldn’t have liked to see her do that without oxygen. She could’ve gone into respiratory distress.”

Brenan told her she had been able to walk for blocks until she became ill and had difficulty swallowing, Prideaux said.

Inquest Judge Margaret Wiebe asked Collins and Prideaux whether they had suggestions or recommendations that might prevent a repeat of what happened to Brenan.

“It probably would’ve been (good) to see her right before discharge to see how she was without (supplemental) oxygen,” Prideaux said.

Collins said she would have liked to reassess Brenan once her oxygen and IV were removed before she was sent home.

The inquest resumes Thursday.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca