Senior Reporter
derek.achong@guardian.co.tt
The North West Regional Health Authority (NWRHA) is set to pay compensation to a 80-year-old woman with schizophrenia, who suffered injuries while receiving treatment at the St Ann’s Psychiatric Hospital in 2016.
High Court Judge Frank Seepersad yesterday ordered the compensation for the woman as he partially upheld her negligence case against the NWRHA that was pursued by her daughter on her behalf.
The lawsuit related to two incidents, which occurred at the hospital in 2016.
In the first incident, in September 2016, the woman was transferred to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital, which also falls under the NWRHA’s purview, after she was noticed limping and claimed she was pushed by a fellow patient.
The woman, who had suffered a fracture to her hip, was returned to St Ann’s and placed on bed rest.
Several months later, she was reportedly attacked by another patient, who struck her on her shin with a metal pot spoon causing a laceration.
She was eventually discharged from St Ann’s in early 2017.
Her daughter, through her lawyer Haresh Ramnath, filed the case alleging that her mother’s lasting injuries were caused by the negligence of the NWRHA and its staff.
The NWRHA denied any wrongdoing as it claimed that the woman fell on her own in the first incident. However, it admitted that the second incident did occur.
During the trial of the case yesterday, orthopaedic and trauma surgeon Dr Stephen Ramroop testified over the extent of the woman’s injuries and the treatment she received at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital.
While being cross-examined by attorney Kirk Bengochea, Ramroop admitted that he could not conclusively say whether the woman was pushed or fell on her own in the first incident.
However, he claimed the woman would have had better mobility in her hip had a pin been installed when she suffered the fall instead of simply being advised to rest.
The woman’s other medical expert, consultant psychiatrist Professor Gerard Hutchinson, was quizzed over the credibility of her initial claims to nurses at St Ann’s in relation to both incidents.
He agreed that patients with similar conditions could make inaccurate statements.
In her evidence, the woman’s daughter admitted that her mother did not tell her that she was attacked while at St Ann’s but claimed that the case was based on official notes recorded by staff at the hospital.
“Up to now my mom has not told me anything about that but it is there in pen and paper,” she said.
Nurse Selina Khan testified that she made the notes in relation to the first incident after she noticed the woman limping.
Khan said the woman alleged that she was pushed by a fellow patient although the attack was not witnessed by any staff.
She admitted that the hospital was understaffed at the time of the second incident as she and her two colleagues, who were on duty at the time, were required to supervise double the patients than typically recommended.
In deciding the case, Justice Seepersad ruled that there was insufficient evidence to prove that the woman was attacked in the first incident.
“I have no evidence before that can lead me on a balance of probabilities to conclude she was in fact pushed deliberately by a patient as opposed to falling naturally after a bump,” he said.
“It is unfortunate that she fell but the court is not satisfied on the evidence that it is attributed to a breach of the duty of care the institution had towards her,” he added.
In relation to the second incident, Justice Seepersad found that the NWRHA was negligent in not ensuring that there was adequate staff to monitor patients with mental health illnesses.
Although Justice Seepersad partially upheld the case he did not immediately assess the appropriate compensation for the woman.
Instead, he gave the parties time to present submissions on the compensation for the treatment she received for the hip injury at Port-of-Spain and for the second incident.
