This is Sally's story about Samantha
My 24 year old daughter Samantha was diagnosed with diabetes at 6 years of age.
She was taken off life support the next day and passed away with family at her side.
Understandably, my husband and sons signed off, they have families and could not afford to lose all they owned to keep fighting the medical system. I was not caving in to the continuing pressure.
They were wearing me down with threats of judgment costs, believing that I would cave in and sign off. And so had this second attorney we'd hired! Because I would not sign off judgment I was then ordered to go before a judge who I was warned, had the authority to order I sign the documents due to my lack of compliance in signing the 'without prejudice' orders.
In court, I told the judge that I was never in this battle for money! I was in it for the truth! Samantha's life was taken and no amount of money would give me my girl back. Respectfully, I explained my position to the judge indicating I would never sign that document, that there is nothing and no one who could hold the power to silence me, that I would willfully spend the remainder of my days behind bars before I ever signed such a document.
I then proceeded to explain that if this was the only case like my daughters which was a medical error I would silently bare my cross but that was not the case. I shared the most recent stats: that 24,000 to 30,000 people die every year of medical harm and it is the 3rd leading cause of death in Canada! There, before the court, this judge gave me full disclosure.
At first the judge told the lawyer to get the paperwork done immediately stating I was not signing the disclosure. Then he said "I've got something even better. How about I put a line across each page and I initial them personally." He took the documents, scratched a solid line across each one, handed them to the clerk who handed them to the presenting lawyer and said, "Get this done immediately!"
My heart soared when I heard these genuinely spoken words from a compassionate judge, and for the first time since my Samantha's passing, her life was acknowledged by someone in authority.
The lawyers returned with documents saying I was not denied public disclosure but did agree not to sue for monetary benefits. When the judge acknowledged Samantha's life, the courage to continue this fight not only for Samantha but for so many, and the proclamation of his valued support in this work has carried my efforts forward.
Finally, someone began to listen, finally, someone heard.
We were pleasantly surprised about the outcome of our case because I have heard of a judge who was willing to simply sweep all the documents for a medical error complaint off his desk to the floor without even looking at them and dismissing the case. My task continues.
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Samantha was accompanied by her fiance to the emergency department at our local hospital because of an acute bladder infection and needed to get a different antibiotic because the previous one prescribed was not effective.
This ED was aware of her health issues including her lactose intolerance. The stress of the infection along with diabetes caused her blood sugars to drop. The medical term is hypoglycemia which she unexpectedly experience that night.
Unfortunately, her blood sugar was not a priority of care that night. Rather, it was the infection. While waiting, she could tell her blood sugar levels dropped quickly. The emergency physician had her blood sugar tested and they gave her half a sandwich and some milk even though she was lactose intolerant which was also indicated on her admittance chart. Her blood sugar reading was 2.2, the normal range is 4.0 – 7.0.
She was put on a Morphine and Gravol intravenous drip which is contrary to the method of administration of these two medications for a person in her condition: both of these medications cause drowsiness and she had no chance to express the hypoglycemic reaction she was having. Her blood sugar was 1.0. and she was put on life support in a diabetic coma. She was taken off life support the next day and passed away with family at her side.
With family members present the coroner told us, "Your daughter did not have to die. Her organs shut down because she asphyxiated." She was not able to swallow and had shallow breathing when she was given morphine and in a coma. He also said she had a hypoglycemic episode. This result was the consequence of a doctor's orders.
Following that information, I secured all the documentation from that night and there was no documentation that she had had her blood sugar tested. After a futile effort to get a lawyer, we learned that there is less than a 1% chance for a successful malpractice lawsuit pertaining to death in Canada. The obstacle is the Canadian Medical Protective Association and its lawyers.
My family started receiving 'without prejudice', letters, a convenient term for enforced compliance, a much more fitting word, from the hospital lawyers who are hired by the CMPA. These so-called 'without prejudice' letters were sent to each of my family members informing us that were we to sign the case off by a certain date, we would not be ordered to pay their contumelious fees that had been incurred since the beginning of our case. Just another of the scare tactics used in malpractice cases.