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Science & Technology

‘Sleeping’ patient was actually dead

Published: 3 May 12 07:28 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/40598/20120503/

A care home resident in western Sweden who was thought to be asleep on the floor was repeatedly ignored by nurses and eventually declared dead by an on-duty doctor.

The care home, in Gothenburg, western Sweden, has been reported to the National Board of Health and Welfare (Socialstyrelsen) after the incident.

The patient was found asleep beneath a hospital bed, and home care staff alerted the nurse on duty as they were unable to wake the patient for medication.

The patient was making a snoring sound while apparently asleep, according to the Lex Maria report.

However, the nurse did not prioritize the incident and refused to make the trip to the care home, and told the staff members to wait.

After several hours, the home staff noticed that the patient was no longer snoring and alerted the nurse once more to do a house call, but the nurse refused to check on the patient for the second time.

Instead, the matter was handed over to another nurse who was working the night shift.

Half an hour later, staff members realized the patient was no longer breathing at all and had no pulse, forcing staff members to make an emergency call for an ambulance.

Emergency services arrived and performed CPR for three hours to no avail. A doctor who was on-call declared the patient to be dead.

The incident has now been reported to the health board in accordance with Sweden's Lex Maria, the informal name for regulations governing the reporting of injuries or incidents in the Swedish health care system.

The Local (news@thelocal.se)

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08:30 May 3, 2012 by G Kin
The Local please, can't you guys tittle articles properly?.

The tittle of this article is rather misleading, suggesting that the patient was actually asleep but the doctor had declared him dead when in actual fact it seems this could be a case of either;

Negligence?

Too much work load? etc

You guys will discourage one from visiting this site!
09:31 May 3, 2012 by Karloskar
@G Kin what's wrong with the headline? the patient was thought to be sleeping and a doctor later declared he was dead...personally, it's headlines like these that keep me coming back to The Local!
11:53 May 3, 2012 by krrodman
Several years ago a friend of mine called me from the waiting room of an Emergency Department. He was sick but had been waiting for more than 1 hour to see a physician. He asked me if there were any tricks to getting seen sooner. "Simple," I said. "Lie down on the floor. They will take you immediately." And so he did, and as predicted, he was taken immediately.

Rule #1: The is no good reason for a patient to be on the floor! And the corollary of that rule: Anyone on the floor needs to be assessed immediately.

What were they thinking? "He seems so comfortable under the bed, I don't want to disturb him." Are Swedish health care workers daft???

How about performing the most basic health care functions? Blood Pressure/Pulse/Respiratory rate. Certainly the home care staff is trained to take a blood pressure, aren't they??

Very scary stuff, people. Very scary.
12:27 May 3, 2012 by libertarianism
Jante Healthcare. GROSS apathy and ABSOLUTE indifference to human life and suffering. Rape and kill whomever you want with little-to-no consequence, but illness is a crime for which you will most likely be tortured and/or executed.
12:41 May 3, 2012 by Borilla
@G Kin - articles are "titled" not "tittled". Get your own house in order.

When are the Moderates going to do something about deaths and injuries in facilities such as this? The bodies are piling up.
12:47 May 3, 2012 by karex
"4, of course.

Old people are no longer "useful" as they aren't working and paying taxes. If you wait around long enough the poor old person will just die and you won't be accused or murder, just of negligence. But hey since we are all humans and commit mistakes, we just apologize and everything is OK, right?

The absolute worship of tax money and little to no regard for human life is what terrifies me here. Better yet, the value of life is categorized in two slots: tax payer and non tax payer. The life of a taxpayer is valuable. The rest is expendable.
13:07 May 3, 2012 by Beavis
this is a continuation of the problems created by the sd party in healthcare, week after week we hear about these cases (difference being in the 1970s-1990s this was hidden from the public due to complete control of the media by the state) It time there was some heavy lawsuits brought against these people to force them into being more careful in future
13:58 May 3, 2012 by libertarianism
Re 7, "...we hear about these cases (difference being in the 1970s-1990s this was hidden from the public due to complete control of the media by the state.."

Do you happen to have a particular source for this? Am curious to read more, if anyone has recommendations. Thank you.
16:15 May 3, 2012 by Beavis
how about the cover up of the states sterilisation of the Sami population for one example..
16:20 May 3, 2012 by G Kin
@ Karloska and Borilla.

And the tittle has actually been changed!. Initially it was:

"Doctor Declares Sleeping Patient Dead".

Can you now understand why I had an issue with the tittle or is it me that was wrong?.

Borilla, I may not be that good in grammar but it does not mean I am equally poor in semantics :)
17:37 May 3, 2012 by gpafledthis
Well - I too have problem telling is a sweedie alive or dead !! Worse is if you judge by "brain dead" criteria !! Example is Malmo a giant open air morgue for the "living dead" !!
03:03 May 4, 2012 by gabeltoon
Do SWEDISH care workers perform basic HEALTH CARE ???? It terrifies me the health system according to what i read on this site. I would hate to be in care if this is what goes on. I used to be a care worker myself here in SCOTLAND.
21:08 May 4, 2012 by tadchem
'Elderly patient dies of negligence'

'Swedish health care found unresponsive'

Sound familiar?
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