Blog

For having allowed an emergency patient to sleep instead of doing a complete clinical evaluation, a nurse is stricken for six months.

July 15th 2008 was a very busy night for Chantal B.-Caron and her colleagues. Not long after midnight, a patient presented herself to the emergency room complaining of a headache. According to the judgement of l'Ordre des infirmiers et infirmières du Québec (OIIQ), the patient was «demanding and difficult».

Mrs Caron did not then perform a complete clinical evaluation which would have well-described the headache. In her report, she does not mention at any time having taken any neurological signs. Mrs Caron remarked a strong odour of alcohol. In that case, the current practice is to let the person sleep until they sober up.

The nurse then shared her inability to take the patient's vital signs to two doctors. Their response was that the patient needed to sleep and shouldn't be disturbed. According to the OIIQ, Chantal Caron should have conducted herself «as a responsable professionnal and done her job anyway».

Cerebral Abcess

According to a doctor's testimony, the patient became unconscious. She was suffering from a cerebral abcess without a raise in temperature.

The OIIQ admits that the nurse showed proof of negligence.

Beyond the concepts, let us face reality- COHERENCE 101!

Have you thought that if the bill on "medical aid in dying by euthanasia" became a reality in our healthcare system, nurses could help doctors to give death by lethal injection to certain patients with the approval of the Collège des médecins and of the OIIQ?