Family relieved as home found guilty

THE FAMILY of a dementia patient who died after swallowing a glove in a nursing home said yesterday they were relieved to have “closure” after the home was found guilty of breaching regulations.

James Griffin, aged 67, died in Waterford Regional Hospital on November 13 2008, five days after he ingested a latex glove in his bedroom at Waterford Nursing Home run by Mowlam Healthcare on the city’s Dunmore Road.

Following a complaint by his family, the HSE took a criminal action against the nursing home which was heard over a number of days last year.

Judge David Kennedy found that the home had breached nursing home regulations by failing to provide sufficient care to Mr Griffin. He imposed a fine of €750, along with costs.

During the case last year, it was heard that James Griffin had severe dementia and lived in the high-dependency unit at Mowlam Nursing Home. In the days before the fatal incident, he had taken to swallowing non-food items such as gloves and sweet wrappers and staff were told to prevent this with measures such as placing boxes of gloves on high shelves in bathrooms and not leaving them in his bedroom.

Staff found him in the doorway of his bedroom on the night of November 8 and realised that he was choking. A latex glove was removed from his airway and CPR was performed before the patient was taken by ambulance to Waterford Regional Hospital. However, he passed away five days later.

An investigation was carried out by a three-person HSE team, and during last year’s hearings at Waterford District Court, a staff member said she would “assume” that James Griffin got the glove from an assisted bathroom on the high-dependency floor of the nursing home.

After yesterday’s judgment, Brendan Griffin, a brother of the deceased, said they were glad the matter was at an end. “We have closure at least, after so long, very long,” he said.

“The reason we went to the HSE and made a complaint to the HSE, the only reason we did that was to stop it happening to any other family, all that we went through.”

The family was disappointed, according to Brendan Griffin, that Mowlam Healthcare hadn’t “held their hands up and said ‘we’re sorry’,” after his brother’s death.

His sister, Eleanor Griffin, said they felt vindicated, “especially for Jim’s sake” for taking the stance they did.

“He was an absolute gentleman,” and a “colourful character” she said.

“When we knew he had this condition,” Brendan said, “we met as a family and we actually went around to look at all the nursing homes in Waterford. We picked this particular one because we thought it would serve his needs the best”.

A spokesperson for Mowlam Healthcare said afterwards that an appeal to the circuit court was being considered and “it would not be appropriate” to make any comment on the judgment.