10/29/2010 // West Palm Beach, FL, US // Sandra Quinlan // Sandra Quinlan
London, U.K.—A quadriplegic British man who seemingly questioned the quality of care he was receiving installed a camera while he was hospitalized last year, and for good reason. Caught on tape was a nurse accidentally turning off his medical ventilator, consequently leaving him brain damaged, according to an Oct. 25 San Francisco Chronicle report.
“He has an existence but it’s nowhere near what it was before… He is very brain-damaged compared to what he was before,” explained Karen Reynolds, Jamie Merrett’s sister.
Merrett was reportedly involved in a violent motor vehicle accident in 2002, leaving him paralyzed from the neck down. While he could not walk, Merrett was able to speak, as well as operate a wheelchair and computer.
However, when nurse Violetta Aylward accidentally turned off his ventilator in January 2009, he suffered irreparable brain damage. His sister alleged his level of comprehension sunk to that of a young child after the incident.
The video reportedly shows the nurse trying to revive Merrett, as it took a total of 21 minutes for the ventilator to be reactivated.
MJS Wiltshire Primary Care Trust, the health authority responsible for Merrett’s care, expressed remorse for the incident in which “the patient’s ventilator care was compromised.”
The health authority issued a statement explaining it had “put in place a series of actions to ensure that such an event will not occur again either for this patient or others.”
The BBC apparently released the video of the medical blunder on Monday.
Aylward was suspended pending an ongoing investigation into the incident.
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