Nurse admits to oversight
Patient death inquest told something ‘missed’
A REGISTERED nurse conceded she should have picked up on a potential medical problem with a mother who died of a prescription drug overdose at the Gold Coast University Hospital.
Renae Jean Mann, 43, died at GCUH on May 14, 2014, almost 24 hours after it is believed she took an overdose of prescription medication.
An inquest into her death was held at Southport Courthouse this week.
Yesterday, registered nurse Raelee Jeffs, who was working the morning shift when Ms Mann was moved from the emergency ward to the mental health assessment pod, admitted at the inquest she had “missed something” when it came to Ms Mann’s care.
“I think what did I miss? How did I miss that?” Ms Jeffs said when asked why she didn’t check Ms Mann’s clinical condition when she was slumped over on the side of a bed.
Ms Jeffs told the inquest Ms Mann was distressed when she arrived at the mental health pod and kept telling staff “I just want to go upstairs” to the mental health ward.
The inquest was told nurses described Ms Mann’s “behavioural” when she came to the mental health pod and an assistant in nursing did not enter the room Ms Mann was in because she feared it was unsafe.
The inquest was shown footage of Ms Jeffs dragging Ms Mann down a bed by her ankles.
“You pulled her down the bed by her ankles, is that acceptable clinical practice?” counsel instructing the coroner Rhiannon Helsen said.
“No ... at the time I was just trying to settle her down and make her comfortable ... but looking back and seeing it, it just doesn’t look nice, does it?”
The inquest heard Ms Mann died after arriving at the emergency department follow- ing a suspected overdose of a mixture of drugs at home.
Ms Mann’s mother, Lynette Mansfield, slammed the care her daughter was given.
“Renae was supposed to be in the safest place she could be, in a hospital,” she said.
“But she was prematurely transferred to a mental health observation room where she did not receive the medical care she needed.”
The inquest is expected to recommence in December.