Nursing Council investigating death of teen at West Dem Hospital - CMO

Nursing Council investigating death of teen at West Dem Hospital – CMO

Jan 23, 2013 News

Censorship, suspension or termination is the possible fate that awaits the nursing assistant who attended to 15-year-old Shemar Miggins moments before he died at the West Demerara Regional Hospital earlier this month.

Dead teen, Shemar Miggins

Such an outcome will however result if the nursing assistant is found to be culpable for the sudden death of the teenager.
The nursing assistant, according to Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Shamdeo Persaud, has, since the incident, been sent on administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation.
Dr. Persaud disclosed that the matter is currently before the Guyana Nursing Council (GNC) which is tasked with registering as well as disciplining nurses. As part of his gazetted position, the CMO is also a member of the Nursing Council as well as the Guyana Medical Council. He said that the conduct of the nursing assistant, as well as that of her supervisor of the day, has been taken into consideration as part of his investigation.
According to Dr. Persaud, the nursing assistant is a registered professional who is supervised by a nurse and so at the time of the incident he was informed that a nurse was reportedly supervising the ward.
“We are still trying to put the pieces together and I expect that by this weekend we will be able to provide more information to the media,” the CMO said last week.
He however disclosed yesterday that an investigation has since been launched by the Nursing Council whose investigation result could see the nursing assistant being censored, whereby her work is closely supervised at all times if she is allowed to return to work. Also, the Council could decide that the nursing assistant be suspended for a specified period or a decision can even be made that she be completely stricken off the national register of nurses.
Dr. Shamdeo told this publication that in addition to gaining the attention of the Nursing Council, the case is expected to be brought to the attention of the entire nursing fraternity, with a view of identifying where procedures, if at all, were not followed. He however, disclosed previously that a review of all documents pertaining to the patient reflected that the medical management aspect was undertaken in the correct way, as were the prescriptions, which were all written up in a timely manner.
Even as investigations continue into the circumstances which led to the January 12, 2013 demise of Miggins, the Chief Medical Officer said that he is still awaiting the coroner’s report on the post mortem examination which was conducted on the lad’s remains. He explained that the wait is due to the fact that the matter is being investigated by the police. This, he said, is because the matter was reported to the police who had in fact facilitated the PM examination that was witnessed by health officials.
“I am still awaiting a report on that because there was a request for a number of tests. A toxicology test has to be done as well,” said the Chief Medical Officer yesterday.