Hospital error gets treatment

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Rozalynde McKibbin with a picture of herself and her mother, Anne Rostecki taken a few months before Rostecki’s death in August of 2009. (ROB BROWN)

The two-page letter the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority has given to the adult children of Anne Rostecki, who died almost three years ago in Seven Oaks General Hospital, would make a corporate lawyer proud. It is expressly vague and ambiguous about what went wrong in the care that Mrs. Rostecki received at the hospital after suffering a stroke July 18, 2009. Her children still don't know the cause of their mother's death, but it is clear the hospital failed profoundly in its duty to give the woman the care she deserved.

In late May this year, the WRHA invited Rozalynde McKibbin and her brothers to meet with chief medical officer Brock Wright to discuss the findings of its review into the treatment their mother got at Seven Oaks. Ms. McKibbin says the discussion confirmed all her grievances, including that her mother was essentially starved for two weeks after she aspirated some food. No feeding tube was arranged for Mrs. Rostecki until Aug. 5. Ms. McKibbin says a nurse told her mother was given "zero" calories from July 22 to Aug. 5.

The two-page summary of the review notes that decisions about oral and tube feeding were delayed and inconsistent, "which resulted in a lack of adequate nutrition for a two-week period." Surely a review conducted over nine months for the WRHA's control could have concluded whether Mrs. Rostecki was fed, at all, in that time.

Ms. McKibbin said her mother had not been bathed for 36 days and had developed bed sores that turned gangrenous and made her skin black just before her death. The WRHA's review acknowledged "Mrs. Rostecki developed skin breakdown prior to her death that could have been prevented."

All of the problems had been pointed out to Seven Oaks staff by the family, which was so upset that conflict raged. Ms. McKibbin and one of her brothers were evicted by security the day before their mother died. Their trust in the hospital shattered, they refused to take part in a review by Seven Oaks. Initially they asked for an autopsy, but when later informed by a funeral home they would be charged for it they called it off.

Ms. McKibbin says it is believed by some people that her mother suffered a second stroke, but she has no confirmation of cause of death. The WRHA earlier this year declared that all serious "pressure ulcers" (also known as bed sores) are to be considered critical incidents that trigger immediate review of a patient's care.

Seven Oaks hospital, which appears to have been operating on the premise Mrs. Rostecki was dying, did not give her decent, compassionate care. The hospital knew her children expected their mother to live. It is evident Seven Oaks failed in its duty to care for this patient and inflicted further suffering on her, something the WRHA should have made plain in its report.

It is impossible to know how long Mrs. Rostecki might have lived with better medical treatment. Seven Oaks and the WRHA are fortunate her family has no interest in dragging them into court to seek damages, but they have done little to reinforce the public's faith in the hospital. Hospitals and other health facilities must get more responsive at helping patients and families reach out to patient advocates, or to set in motion proper investigations when suspicions rise about inappropriate care, neglect or medical errors.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 10, 2012 A6