‘WHY DIDN’T THEY CALL AMBULANCE EARLIER’
Part 3 of our special report into nursing home scandal:
IT WAS February 21, and according to her daughter, Daphne* had gone to the doctor’s surgery that morning about her ingrown toenail. She died that evening.
“Mum had everything wrong with her – she was dehydrated, she had sepsis, a urinary tract infection, E. coli, she couldn’t breathe,” her daughter, Jacky* said.
Yallambee Aged Care, through its lawyer, has denied Daphne was neglected in its care.
According to notes written by staff at Yallambee that morning, Daphne was “moderately confused and disorientated”, and had developed “a head cold” over the last 48 hours. At 8.30am, her blood pressure was 96/56 – a normal resting blood pressure is around 120/80.
An hour later, Daphne became unsteady on her feet, blue around the lips, and was having difficulty breathing. Her blood pressure had increased to 124/83, and she was anxious.
This, Jacky said, was when she should have been called an ambulance and taken to hospital.
Instead, Daphne was placed in bed, with her back rest propped at a 30 degree angle, and given 10 minutes of oxygen. The notes say that after the oxygen was turned off, she was calm and breathing normally, before she was taken to the Millmerran Medical Centre for her check-up at 10.15am.
The notes were faxed through to the Millmerran Medical Centre at 10.24, but Jacky doesn’t know if the doctor ever saw them.
Yallambee did not respond to The Chronicle’s question of who accompanied Daphne to her check-up that morning.
Yallambee, through its lawyer, said: “At the Millmerran Medical Centre, Daphne was prescribed antibiotics for her ingrown toenail and her urinary tract infection. No physician or clinician from the Millmerran Medical Centre reported to the facility concerning Daphne’s respiratory symptoms or back pain.”
But Jacky is adamant the nursing home should have simply called an ambulance.
“It was 9.30 in the morning and she was blue around the lips and couldn’t breathe. That’s why I can’t understand why they didn’t ring the ambulance straight away,” she said.
THE PHONE CALL
At the very least, Jacky said, she should have been rung about her mother’s condition. But according to her account, that didn’t happen until around 2.20pm.
“They rang me up in the afternoon and they just said to me, ‘we think your mother should go to the hospital’. And I just said take her there now, because I’m on my way,” Jacky said.
Jacky said after receiving the phone call, she organised for her father to pick up her daughter from school, went to fill up her car with petrol, and left Inglewood for Millmerran – a 45-minute drive.
A receipt seen by The Chronicle shows Jacky paid for her fuel in Inglewood at 2.55pm.
She says she beat her mother to the Millmerran Hospital, which is located 1.1km down the road from Yallambee.
Yallambee’s lawyer offered a different account of the afternoon’s events.
“At 1515 hours on February 21, Daphne was examined by the facility’s registered nurse and clinical care manager, and it was determined to send Daphne to the Millmerran Multi-Purpose Health Service,” a statement said.
However, Queensland Ambulance Service records show only one phone call was made
MUM HAD EVERYTHING WRONG WITH HER – SHE WAS DEHYDRATED, SHE HAD SEPSIS, A URINARY TRACT INFECTION, E. COLI, SHE COULDN’T BREATHE,”
JACKY
for a medical transfer of a patient from the nursing home to the Millmerran Hospital on that day, at 3.02pm.
AT THE HOSPITAL
After a couple of hours, things had settled down at the hospital and Daphne was smiling and laughing with her daughter.
“And when I thought that mum was coming right I just said to her, well mum – I rubbed her arms and her ankles – I said to mum, I might go home now because it’s getting dark,” Jacky said.
“She just said – ‘oh, does that mean I’m going to be left here all alone?’ Then the nurses said no, you’re right, you’re here with us.
“And then half an hour after I left, she died. She was so dehydrated her kidneys wouldn’t work.”
According to Daphne’s death certificate, she died of a heart attack, which occurred as a result of urosepsis.
The Chronicle asked whether the care provided by Yallambee was responsible for Daphne’s decline in health and death.
Yallambee’s lawyer said: “In answer to your questions, Daphne did not die in our client’s care. She died at the (Millmerran Hospital).”
“Daphne was not neglected whilst in our client’s care.”
Yallambee’s lawyer said an Aged Care Complaints Commissioner investigation into Daphne’s death was finalised in March.
“Our client was not censured by the ACCC, nor was any action taken against our client by the ACCC, on the basis of Jacky’s complaint,” the lawyer said.
However, a delegate of the Aged Care Complaints Commissioner did refer Jacky’s concerns over the care her mother received to the Australian Aged Care Quality Agency for its use during subsequent contact visits “as it may be a systemic issue at Yallambee”.
No one from Yallambee turned up to Daphne’s funeral, which Jacky said was “so disrespectful”.
“How wrong is that? They took her money, but they couldn’t come to her funeral,” she said.