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Thestar.com
> GTA | | May. 2, 2001. 01:15 AM | | | Sick Kids nurses feel `under attack' | | Hospital trying to block mother from testifying at inquest | Harold Levy and Sonia Verma
STAFF REPORTERS | | Nurses at the Hospital for Sick Children are so afraid of the mother of a girl who died at the hospital that she should not be allowed to personally participate at an upcoming inquest, a hospital official says. ``It is their perception . . . that they are under attack,'' Chief Operating Officer Alan Goldbloom testified yesterday on Sharon Shore's application to participate at the inquest into the death of 17-year-old Sanchia Bulgin. ``Not just the two nurses involved in the first inquest (into the death of Shore's daughter on the same ward two years earlier) but as a group. They are indeed fearful and feel intimidated.'' Sanchia died in September on Ward 5 A/B after undergoing non-life-threatening surgery to remove her gall bladder. Poorly monitored by doctors and nurses, according to a hospital investigation, the teenager, who had sickle-cell anemia, bled to death internally. Shore's daughter Lisa died unexpectedly on the same ward on Oct. 22, 1998, less than 12 hours after she arrived at the emergency department with leg pain caused by a non-life-threatening condition. Goldbloom said that the nurse's fear of Shore was so great that the hospital experienced ``a significant staffing issue'' on Ward 5A/5B after Lisa Shore's death. Geoffrey Adair, Shore's lawyer, suggested that Goldbloom did not have ''an iota of evidence'' that a single nurse had refused to work in 5A/5B because he or she might be cross-examined. In an affidavit filed in court, Goldbloom says his evidence that Shore has taken an ``aggressive position'' against the hospital and the nursing staff, is an entry on her web page commemorating Lisa's death. The entry says, ``In memory of Lisa Celine Shore, who died senselessly and tragically because of two negligent nurses at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. The hospital continues to employ the two nurses.''An inquest jury returned a finding of homicide in Lisa Shore's death, which means the killing of one human being by another. The hospital had contended that the death was accidental or the cause couldn't be determined. Toronto's homicide squad is investigating Lisa's death. Acting on complaints later made by Shore after the inquest the Ontario College of Nurses has ordered disciplinary hearings for the two nurses who cared for Lisa. The hospital did not admit responsibility for Lisa's death but quietly settled with her family for an undisclosed amount before the inquest began in November, 1999. Although Goldbloom states in his affidavit that the clinical circumstances between the two deaths ``are actually quite different,'' he agreed with Adair that there was one significant common factor linking them: the failure of nurses to obtain vital signs and understand their significance. Adair told Chief Coroner James Young that Goldbloom's credibility was tarnished because ``the entire tenor of his affidavit and his response was as an advocate for the hospital's position.'' ``I must say that it is shocking to hear him say that the only similarity (between the cases) is the ward they were on. ``That's very sad considering his position in the organization he represents,'' Adair said. ``It is a sad day and will be viewed as such, especially considering the purpose of an inquest, when a great institution like the Hospital for Sick Children bends over backwards to deny someone from participating reasonably in a process such as this.'' Lawyer William Carter, representing the hospital, and some of the nurses, told Young that Shore's interest ``is the interest of a mother whose daughter died at the hospital . . . but that does not translate into a substantial and direct interest'' in the Bulgin case. To be granted standing, an applicant must demonstrate a direct and substantial interest in the inquest. Carter said the accusation that the hospital was bending over backwards to keep Shore out of the inquest was ``unwarranted,'' noting that Goldbloom was not questioning Shore's intent, motive or sincerity. Young said he will try to release his decision as to whether Shore may participate by the end of the week. | |
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