27th April 2013 - there is a disturbing photo here so if likely to be upset please be aware
Dear Mr Andrew Stoner,
I am in receipt of your
letter 23rd April 2013. I am disappointed but not surprised at your
response. You would know writing to Ms
Skinner is useless as she never answers any letters. Not even an acknowledgement. Re the letter sent previously and parts of
emails you sent to me in 2007 and 2008. You have not addressed any of the
issues raised at all. I note that Ms Skinner is also responsible for Medical
Research – surely a conflict of interest if she is there to ensure the public
is protected from dangerous research as was done to Don in the last weeks at
RNSH
It was Medical Research run by the George Institute in ICU
wards in Australia and NZ which made Don's last weeks even more miserable than
they would have been. A study called the NICE Study - "Joint Statement on
the NICE-SUGAR Study on Intensive Vs Conventional Glucose Control in Critically
Ill Patients http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/550381
The American Diabetes Association (ADA) and the American Association of
Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) maintain that the findings of the
Normoglycemia in Intensive Care Evaluation-Survival Using Glucose Algorithm
Regulation (NICE-SUGAR) study should NOT lead to an abandonment of the concept
of good glucose management in the hospital setting. Uncontrolled high blood
glucose can lead to serious problems for hospitalized patients, such as
dehydration and increased propensity to infection.
Results from the study indicate that critically ill patients treated in the
intensive glucose control group were 14% more likely to die compared to
critically ill patients in the conventional control group.
More than 6,100 patients with hyperglycaemia in critical care units were
randomized to either intensive glucose control (insulin infusion with target
blood glucose between 80-108 mg/dl) or to conventional glucose control (insulin
infusion begun if blood glucose was over 180 mg/dl, and discontinued if blood
glucose dropped below 144 mg/dl). Severe hypoglycaemia (blood glucose below 40
mg/dl) occurred in approximately 6.8 percent of intensively treated patients
compared to 0.5 percent of conventionally treated patients. The study showed no
difference in length of time in the intensive care unit or in the hospital, or
in other major outcomes such as time on ventilators or need for dialysis.
http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/550381
http://www.diabetes.org/for-media/pr-NICE_SUGAR-study.jsp
On the first day Don was in Intensive Care this research was pushed to us with
the qualifier that taking part meant only miniscule amounts of blood would be
taken, but as this would be getting tested more regularly than normal, this
would give Don a better chance of survival. At one time his Haemoglobin levels
were down to 66 a dangerous level when 130 is normal – they still took bloods
from him for this study.
Don was given many bags of blood over the time in ICU because his haemoglobin
levels were dropping. He had 10 bags of blood over the last two weeks alone,
always in an amount of two bags per transfusion. It was never explained why he
would need this much, and I would dearly like to know why. Around 10th May,
near the end, I was present when a doctor and nurse actually force-squeezed two
bags of blood into Don as if it were an emergency. One of them was squeezing
the bag while the other attended to the connection, then they changed positions
with the second bag. I have no idea why this was happening. The notes record
the times these bags were given as being hours apart, but they weren’t. I would
say they were given within an hour of each other. God knows why the records are
different from what I saw with my own eyes. My sister says in over 30 years of
nursing she has never seen this done. She said it would have caused him
suffering to have the blood forced into his body that quickly. I would also
like to know why, if Don’s haemoglobin levels were so very low, and knowing how
sick he was, why some days they did full blood tests eight, ten, twelve times a
day? There is no way his poor sick body would have been able to make up all that
blood. My sister is a nurse of over 30 years in renal Dialysis– she said he
would have suffered terribly because of this – added to what else had already
been done to him.
After election I met with Leslie in her rooms. She was a
different person and her attitude had changed. She suddenly came up with the
observation that the amounts of blood taken were not that high. The nurses I
have had contact with one who actually worked in ICU at RNSH were shocked at
how much blood was being taken. I think I would rather listen to these highly
qualified nurses – one being Eve Hillary author of “Sarahs Last Wish”.
So by the Statistics 14% of the 6000 people who found
themselves fighting for life in ICU’s in RNSH and other, would have died
because of this study – that’s about
840 people who would not have died! But how many others like Don had
their suffering made so much worse by this disgraceful and useless research.
Who speaks for these people, certainly not the minister of medical research?
My
sister with my permission, took this 18th April. At this stage Don
had no infection, the research had started the day before, he had not become
full of fluid and had not forcibly had the ventilator removed five times and
held till he was at the point of Respiratory arrest which is horrible to watch
and how much more horrible to go through for no reason. At his point he had
another dreadful 33 days, that’s four weeks and five days to endure their
torture. I am not enclosing this for shock value just to remind you that there
was a human being involved here.
My husband’s treatment and death has so many levels which
need investigation that to thoroughly investigate his killing would open up too
many areas of criminality which is at present covered up by the Medical and
medical Research world, and the Health Department. A Department which has
always no matter who was in Government protected the medical criminals and
abandoned the vulnerable people who find themselves in their hands.
You know there should have been a full Inquiry into Don’s
brutal treatment and death. An Inquiry where we would have the help needed to
have independent from the Health Dept doctors go through the sequence of
events, the medication stuff ups, the effect of covering up of unnecessary
treatment, close examination of Scans and Pathology, the multiple infections,
the dangerous research, the filthy surroundings and a list that only a medical
person could cover. I do not have the funds to do this.
What really haunts me is that I know that in NSW Hospitals
there are people like Don, like Vanessa Anderson and others being killed right
now because nobody in either Government has had the humanity to actively work
for changes.
Andrew just referring this all on to Jillian Skinner as you
know is worse than useless. It appears to me that all people do when they are
in Government refer us to other Ministers who don’t answer. I don’t apologise
for writing in this vein. Our small family was and is very close. For us to not
work for justice for Don is unthinkable as it would be with all loving
families. We are his last line of defence as it seems there is none to be had
anywhere else.
I hope you reconsider.
Yours sincerely,
Mrs Therese Mackay
