Highs and Lows !

 This week recorded both the highs and the lows of the medical services that protect the citizens of New South Wales.   Emergency services were alerted when a man in his fifties suffered a medical incident which caused him to lose consciousness.

The unusual aspect was that he was suspended in harness, thirty metres up a communication tower. This rescue became the responsibility of the " Special Operation Paramedics " team who employed their new " Bronto "  cherry-picker type of rescue platform.

This is capable of elevating rescuers to a height of forty-five metres and serves a very useful purpose when speed is a necessity to save a life.  This worker was brought to the ground and transferred to hospital, where he is making a recovery.

This type of rescue tends to be spectacular and draws a crowd when it is performed on a public building. It is a comfort to window washers and technicians needing to work at heights to know that people trained in height rescue are on hand if they come to harm.

Unfortunately, the " low " in our medical system occurred when an Aboriginal man died in a Sydney hospital.  This man took his own life in circumstances where he was specifically hospitalized to prevent just that happening.

He became a involuntary patient after consulting his GP about suicidal thoughts and he was placed in the Acute Mental Health Unit. The protocol required that he be checked at thirty minute intervals for " suicide and aggression ". He was found dead in his room at 7-30 am the next morning.

This death resulted in a Coronial Inquest, which found that he died between 11 pm and 5-30 am.  The ward was in the care of a senior registered  nurse assisted by three junior nurses and the inquest found that the registration chart recorded that the man was " sleeping " at 12.30 am,  5.30 am and 6.30 am.

The blinds in that room were faulty and could not be fully opened and it was evident that the observation was made without entering the room. This was referred to the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) which found that one of the nurses on night shift made three entries on the observation chart indicating that the patient was " sleeping " when she had not entered the room to check on him.

This 49 year old man had made several attempts on his life and had been sleeping in his car. It was evident that the protocol of a check every thirty minutes had not been followed.  All four nurses were found guilty of professional misconduct under the Health Practitioner Registration National law for failing to observe the patient.  All had their registration suspended.

It is comforting to know that failure to follow medical convention does have consequences. A man is dead and the medical career of four nurses has come to an end. Hopefully, this is a rare occurrence !