An independent, external review into case of a infant death during childbirth has been commissioned by the Vancouver Island Health Authority.
Unlike VIHAB次元官网网址檚 routine internal investigation, which concluded last week and was shared only with hospital staff and the patient involved, the external review will be made public.
VIHA acting-chief medical officer Dr. Martin Wale said the review was called to help restore public confidence in maternal care at Victoria General.
It will cover the events leading up to the death and make recommendations on how such a tragic outcome might be avoided in the future.
B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 really tragic and weB次元官网网址檙e deeply sorry to the family for their loss,B次元官网网址� Wale said. B次元官网网址淲e expect to be held accountable for what happened. If recommendations come back with things we could have done better, weB次元官网网址檒l change our procedures.B次元官网网址�
Details of the case were made public by an anesthetist at the hospital, Sue Ferreira, who said the mother required an emergency cesarian section but the procedure was delayed because the one general anesthetist in the hospital was busy with another surgery.
An anesthetist administers the epidural or spinal anesthetic before a C-section begins and monitors the motherB次元官网网址檚 pain throughout the procedure.
Wale said the national standard for how long it should take an anesthetist to reach a patient in an emergency is 30 minutes. He said in this case, from the time the doctor called for a C-section to when the back up anesthetist arrived at the hospital was 10 minutes and another 15 minutes elapsed before the procedure began.
During that time the child died inside its mother, and it was delivered as a stillborn.
Erna Turrie, the grandmother of the woman who lost her child, told media that she blames the doctors for not calling in the anesthetist sooner. Ferreira says if there had been a dedicated obstetrical anesthetist working in maternity the C-section could have started sooner.
VIHA tried to hire a second anesthetist in 2009 but none would work for the $348,000 salary offered, which is the maximum allowed rate set by the province and the B.C. medical association.
Wale said heB次元官网网址檚 confident that staff at Victoria General are providing the best maternal care they can under the circumstances.
B次元官网网址淭he vast majority of births have a positive outcome,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淲eB次元官网网址檙e not working with limitless resources, but if thereB次元官网网址檚 a way we could be doing better with what we have, I expect this external review will shine a bright light on that.B次元官网网址�
Wale could not say at press time who would undertake the review. VIHA was working with the Ministry of Health and the B.C. Patient Safety and Quality Council to find a suitable reviewer.
The review is expected to be completed by early September.
Wale said VIHA hasnB次元官网网址檛 been subject to an external review since 2006, but thought it was important to call for one in this case.
B次元官网网址淭his has become a public confidence issue that we need to address,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淲e want to reassure pregnant mothers that we take this very seriously.B次元官网网址�
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