UPDATE: Nurses deliberately ignored the woman who was left to die in an NSW hospital causing her death, the coroner’s report has confirmed.
“The deceased was provided with no proper care following obvious falls, ” it stated, before saying she “was treated with complete indifference.”
“No effort was made to assist in having her attired except by apparently throwing a gown [in] the room.”
Ms Merten was “wandering the corridor naked and covered in excrement while the senior nurse is seen to mop the floor apparently oblivious”, it continued, as reported by SMH.
“The lack of care and compassion shown to the deceased was monumentally disgraceful and appeared to emanate from an ‘Oh, it’s just Miriam’ mentality.”
“To see a mentally ill person in 2014 at a public hospital in NSW treated in such an appalling manner is really beyond comprehension.”
He concluded the incident was not a system failure but a “human failure” and that the senior nurse on duty had made a conscious decision to not comply with hospital protocols and “no intention to cease the seclusion during her shift”.
The senior nurse has blamed a lack of adequate staff numbers for the death. Both her and the junior nurse were referred to the medical watchdog and fired over the incident.
ORIGINAL: A parliamentary inquiry into NSW mental health services is being called for, following disturbing images of a dying patient emerging.
The mother-of-two was in the care of a Lismore hospital in 2014 but was left to die naked and alone when her calls for help went unanswered.
The footage shows Miriam Merten staggering through the corridors of Lismore Base Hospital, after being left drugged and naked for hours – without any food or water – in the hospital’s tiny “seclusion” room.
Miriam fell and hit her head at least 20 times, as the two nurses on duty completely ignored her.
The Coroner found Ms Merten died from “traumatic and hypoxic brain injury caused by numerous falls and the self-beating of her head on various surfaces.”
He said this was “not done with the intention of taking her own life,” reports The Daily Telegraph.
New Mental Health Minister, Tanya Davies, admits she had only been made aware of the “horrific” footage after inquiries by The Daily Telegraph.
“My stomach actually turned at one point,” Ms Davies said after seeing the images. “I got to a point where I just closed my eyes because I didn’t want to see what was going to come next.”
“I am still pretty much shaken by thinking that was happening to a lady. I was pretty disgusted.”
Labor spokeswoman Tania Mihailuk says only a “full and transparent review” into the death would restore faith in the system.
“This is the Don Dale moment,” she said. “It is sickening and appalling … Premier Gladys Berejiklian must act immediately.”
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