Scottish COVID inquiry Impact hearing | Health and social care | 23 November 2023 (morning session)
Highlights of this remarkable session feature Ms Gillian Grant, who tesitifes about non consensual DNRs and the use of midazolam on her gran.
-Lockdown-Isolation-Neglect-Deterioration-Illegal DNRs-Midazolam-COVID19-
Ms Grant’s grandmother was admitted to Mavisbank care home around August or September 2020. She had suffered a series of falls whilst in sheltered housing and it was decided she needed more support in a home. She sadly passed away 4th Nov 2020 aged 91 with the cause of death noted as COVID-19.
Here Gillian describes how on a suprise trip to the care home for a window visit during lockdown she witnessed her gran being fed a meal of uncooked mince. She was only able to communicate standing outside using a white board.
‘‘The mince was pink..it was RAW.’’
In addition, Gillain was noticing how her gran was losing weight in the care home and bought her a jacket to keep her warm during the cold outdoor garden visits. Her gran never received the jacket. Even with a negative COVID test the home forbid all contact between the family.
‘The garden visits were VERY inhumane.’’
‘‘The first thing she wanted to do was come towards me and hug me, i had to hold my hand out and stop her which felt awful…we were watched over the entire time.’’
Further to the uncooked meal Gillian then discovered her gran had a ‘shower’ in the care home and was pleased about this until her gran stated the following:
‘They took me and threw a big bucket of water over me.’’
‘‘I’ve since spoke to quite alot of people with relatvies in the home and people that have worked in the home and i really do think that did happen.’’
Here Gillian reveals one of the most shocking revelations thus far from the Scottish COVID inquiry. Her gran was placed on a DNR order without her consent nor any knowledge from the family. Gillian’s signature was forged. Gillan was her grans power of attorney.
‘‘When i sat with the inquiry team to give this statement my solicitor produced the do not resuscitate order and it had MY NAME on it.’’
A shocked Lord Brailsford interjects: ‘‘Was it signed?’’
‘‘I’ve got a copy of it…it’s in block capitals letters with my name…..this is NOT my normal signature at all.’’
‘‘There is a section that asks if the patient is aware of the DNR order and neither box is ticked.’’
Gillian’s testimony was covered online by the BBC but what was not mentioned even more disturbing that the DNR order was that her gran was injected with the powerful end of life drug midazolam prior to her death. The care home also misled to the GP by stating the family had wished her mother NOT goto hospital if she were to become very ill. The care home instead advised ‘just in case’ medications. Gillian’s Gran was not extremely ill at the time and was said to be only suffering from ‘mild COVID.’
‘‘I assertain the sedative she was given is one called midazolam.’’
-Stuart Gayle KC
‘‘She was also given two other drugs that were part of an end of life protocol.’’
‘‘I am VERY angry and VERY upset about this.’’
‘‘We never once said we never wanted her to goto hospital..i always said the exact opposite.’’
-Gillan Grant
Ms Grant clarifies further in her statement:
‘‘The care home thought that they should give her a mild sedative to stop her getting up and down so much and help her sleep through the night and keep the cannula in. My mum agreed to that but if she had known what the sedative was she would have said no as she was a retired nurse and, they (care home) should not have asked her anyway as she was not authorised to approve this.’’ - paragraph 59 of statement
‘‘ I had never given permission for the DNR and I am very shocked and upset that this has my name on it. I do not understand it. The DNR is incomplete. The first part of the DNR asked if the patient authorises the DNR. This part had been left blank. The next part asks if the welfare attorney/ guardian authorises thisand has my name written next to it but it is not dated. The part below that is signed by the GP and is dated for 2 November 2020. On this date my gran was showing only very mild signs of COVID symptoms. My gran suffered from mild dementia but had enough capacity to make her own decisions. I was asked about a DNR but categorically stated that I was not prepared to make any decision on a DNR if she was not critically ill and I knew she could make these decisions for herself. I was very clear and strongly worded on this with the care home. I think this conversation happened on the 2 of November 2020 and this isthe date of the DNR.’’ -paragraph 65 of statement
‘‘The other point is that the sedative they gave her is Midazolam which isn't a mild sedative. I later found out my grandmother was on a full end of life protocol put on place by the doctor "just in case". I don't understand why this was administered as we were at no point informed that she was end of life and if we had been then why had we not been called to be with her.’’ -paragraph 77 of statement
‘‘From things I've read, Midazolam can reduce your respiratory rate and I don't understand why they would have given her that? If somebody had told me it was Midazolam I would have said no’’ - paragraph 78 of statement
‘‘I think there were other things that could have been done other than a sedative. They could have given her an oxygen mask rather than a cannula and they could have been checking on her more regularly to make sure she was putting it back on. There were so many other ways than to sedate her. It makes no sense to me whatsoever particularly as her oxygen saturation levels were going down it (midazolam) can only make it worse.’’ - paragraph 79 of statement
Some of Gillians concluding remarks mention no human rights for her gran and that the policy harms were about equal to that of ‘the virus’.
‘‘I don't think my gran's rights were fully considered in all the decisions that were made. I think especially her wellbeing. Everybody was scared into worrying more about protecting her health than her wellbeing. If I knew then what I know now I'd have given here more of a quality of life and not worried so much about what might have happened. I'd rather she would have had a happier two or three months than having the six months of loneliness she had and being terrified.’’ -paragraph 101 of statement
‘‘Their emotional and mental wellbeing wasn’t considered in so many ways..in some ways the isolation and the loneliness and the confusion and the fear was almost worse than the virus itself.’’
Gillan was going to take legal action against the care home but was told the cost would be too great if unsuccessful. Here she reinforces her belief there is an undercurrent of neglect and abuse in the care home sector which was exacerbated during ‘the pandemic’ lockdowns.
‘‘I also think there is an undercurrent of, sometimes, neglect and abuse in care homes, and I think, because of the whole lockdown, it opened the flood gates for that whole thing to get worse and that things went on in care homes that we probably don't know about because people weren't allowed access to them. That worries me..’’-paragraph 108 of statement
Final sentence of statment paragraph 113:
‘‘I would be happy for the inquiry to use the medical records as I think they are important in showing the neglect and inconsistency within the care home.’’
End
Links:
-Full statement-https://www.covid19inquiry.scot/sites/default/files/ev-documents/sci-wt0142-000002.pdf
-Full vdieo-YouTube Scottish-COVID 19 inquiry- Impact hearing | Health and social care | 23 November 2023 (morning session)
-https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-67507145
My brother also had a DNR form although not filled in and no boxes ticked so No wasn't ticked but yes was also not ticked . I do not believe any attempt to resuscitate was made. The way the elderly was treated is inhumane I hope there is justice. 🙏