Peebles Hospital should disclose the results of its investigation into the recent death of a patient who allegedly waited hours for emergency treatment.
Hospital officials’ reticence on the matter has already compounded legitimate concerns about the death, and a full explanation is needed in order to retain the public’s confidence.
Valda Stewart’s family members claim that she was taken to the emergency room on June 20 with chest pains and shortness of breath — two red-flag symptoms that should have alerted hospital staff that she should have been seen by a doctor as soon as possible.
According to family members, however, the 48-year-old remained in the waiting room for almost three hours, and she subsequently died from a pulmonary embolism.
This condition — an artery blockage in the lung often caused by a blood clot — is obviously dangerous, but it tends to be very treatable if diagnosed in time. Thus, it seems reasonable to assume that Ms. Stewart might have survived if she had received treatment sooner.
Though the allegations certainly do not prove that the hospital was at fault — there could be any number of reasonable explanations for a delay in treatment — Ms. Stewart’s death raises questions that need to be answered publicly.
Under the hospital’s protocols, for example, how long can patients who are experiencing urgent symptoms expect to wait in the emergency room before seeing a doctor? Were those protocols followed in Ms. Stewart’s case? If not, were any employees disciplined for breaching them? What specific steps have been taken to ensure that any breach will not happen again?
Unfortunately, to date, hospital officials have not answered these questions adequately. Though they originally promised to investigate the death and to apprise the public of their findings, they have now completed their investigation and they have not provided any information about it.
In fact, hospital officials also allegedly declined to provide details of the investigation to Ms. Stewart’s family members, explaining that certain findings were confidential.
This response leaves much to be desired, and it is not in the hospital’s long-term interest.It also understandably upset Ms. Stewart’s family, and it could fuel public suspicions that the hospital was at fault.
Meanwhile, this newspaper’s efforts to obtain substantive information from the hospital also have been unsuccessful. This week BVI Health Services Authority Chairman John Cline declined to comment, saying that the public has already made up its mind about the incident.
We suspect that Mr. Cline is wrong about that. Instead of sparring with the public, he and other hospital leaders should be doing everything possible to put the community’s mind at ease over this matter.
We recognise that privacy issues may come into play, but surely enough information could be provided to explain what, if anything, went wrong in the hours leading up to Ms. Stewart’s death — and what specific steps have been taken to ensure that it doesn’t happen again.
The new Peebles Hospital is a great boon for the Virgin Islands, with its promise to bring world-class medical care to the territory. Hospital leaders should keep this in mind as they work to get to the bottom of this matter.
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