Writer of death summary didn't have all details 

The doctor who prepared a summary of Lisa Shore's death at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children says he was given incorrect information by hospital staff. 

James Wright, an orthopedic surgeon, told an inquest yesterday that it was his responsibility, as the doctor who admitted Lisa to the hospital Oct. 22, 1998, to prepare the summary required under Ontario law. 

Lisa had been brought to the hospital by her mother the previous evening for relief from a non-life-threatening chronic pain disorder. 

Wright did not treat Lisa directly, but had to admit her because anesthetists, who control pain, did not have the authority to admit patients. 

Wright agreed with Shore family lawyer Frank Gomberg that he had been told, incorrectly, that Lisa's vital signs were ``fine'' shortly before she was found dead in her bed at about 7:15 a.m. - and that she had experienced only ``mild'' breathing problems. 

The jury has been told that nurses mostly failed to check Lisa's vital signs while she was on the ward, and that her breathing deteriorated after she was admitted at 1:45 a.m. 

Wright testified that when he prepared the document on Oct. 29, 1998, he didn't have the flow chart on which Lisa's vital signs were to be recorded, he had not read the emergency room doctor's orders for treating her, and he had not reviewed the case with the nurses responsible for her care. 

Pressed by Gomberg, Wright acknowledged that there were ``a lot of errors in the death summary,'' and that ``I should have gone through the medical record in more detail than I did.'' 

Asked by a juror whether he regretted not consulting Lisa's flow chart - a record of pulse, respiration, temperature and other important indicators - Wright replied, ``I relied on the information I was given by the nurses at the time.'' 

Wright told jurors that he had been urged by medical records staff to provide the summary quickly, because there was ``a sense of urgency'' to get it to the coroner's office. 

Questioned by Anne Posna, his lawyer, Wright said he had no reason to doubt the accuracy of the information he got. 

``I knew some vital signs had been taken, and I had no reason to believe that orders given had not been followed.'' 

Wright told jurors the document was intended to be no more than a brief summary of the events leading to the death, and that he knew the death was being probed in detail by various hospital departments. 

He said it would have been better if the death summary, which forms part of the hospital record available to the coroner and deceased's family, had been prepared by doctors who directly treated Lisa. 

Yesterday morning, the inquest moved from the Coroner's Court to the hospital, where officials under oath explained Kidcom, a computerized patient records system.