Investigation launched after hospital psychiatric patient allegedly disconnects man from ventilator

Argentina

The family of victim Jose Ignacio say his suspected killer was found standing by his bedside holding the trachea tube she had apparently pulled out

Gerard Couzens

A WOMAN psychiatric patient has been accused of killing a man suffering from pneumonia by accessing his hospital room and disconnecting him from the ventilator he was on.

Two separate investigations were underway today into the horror incident at the Durand Hospital in the Argentinian capital Buenos Aires.

Victim Jose Ignacio’s family say his suspected killer was discovered by his bedside some 700ft away from the hospital area she was being assisted in with the oxygen tube that had been fitted into his trachea in her hand.

The dead man’s son German Sequeira said they were given the terrible news following an improvement in his condition after he was diagnosed with bilateral pneumonia and put into an induced coma.

He said: “We got an emergency call asking us to go to the hospital and when we arrived the head of intensive care gathered us together in a room.

“There he told us that my dad had suffered a heart attack, and that when they went to the room where he was hospitalised, they found this woman standing in front of the bed holding the oxygen tube that goes into the trachea in her hand. She had pulled it out.”

He added, saying his father should have been in an intensive care ward but had been put in an intermediate care room because no beds were available: “She had walked around 200 metres from the place where she was being assisted to the room my dad was in.

“We want to know what she was doing there and so far no-one has been able to explain it to us.

“My dad was unable to breathe properly when he was admitted.

“When they ran tests, they found he had bilateral pneumonia and decided to intubate him and place him in an induced coma.

“His outlook was somewhat encouraging because on the first day he had a fever and poor oxygenation, but the rest of the days he remained stable.”

Hospital workers subsequently reportedly confirmed in a statement a psychiatric patient had disconnected Jose Ignacio from the ventilator helping him to breathe.

Hospital delegate Hector Ortiz told local press the woman blamed for the patient’s death, just before midday last Friday, had been caught on previous occasions earlier in the week accessing parts of the hospital she had no right to be in.

She is now in another hospital room under police guard.

Durand Hospital has launched its own internal investigation and a local court has opened a second probe.

Regional health ministry chiefs confirmed: “Last Friday morning the death of an extubated patient was confirmed under circumstances that are being investigated.

“In the same room, and within the same time frame, the presence of a person unrelated to the healthcare team was verified.

“It has not been possible to establish any connection with the event described but the corresponding summary proceedings are being initiated from the hospital.”

Durand Hospital is one of Buenos Aires’ public city hospitals. It was officially opened in 1913, although the old hospital was almost totally demolished in the 1970s and a new building erected.