Nurse’s mistake leaves patient brain-damaged

A TETRAPLEGIC man whose life-support machine was mistakenly turned off by an agency nurse working for the British NHS has been left with severe brain damage, it emerged yesterday.

Jamie Merrett, 37, was so worried about the care he had been receiving at his home that he alerted Wiltshire NHS and had a camera set up in his bedroom, which captured the incident in January 2009.

An investigation also found the company that employed the nurse did not have adequate systems in place to check the training staff had received.

Only days after the camera was installed, Merrett, of Devizes, Wiltshire, was left close to death after nurse Violetta Aylward, from Reading, turned off the life-support machine and struggled to resuscitate him.

Merrett was aware of the mistake that had been made before he lost consciousness, unable to speak. He can be heard on the film urgently clicking his tongue as a warning.

Nurse Aylward tried to resuscitate him but it took 21 minutes for the machine to be restarted by paramedics, leaving Merrett with serious brain damage.

He had been nursed at home since 2002 after a road accident left him paralysed from the neck down.

Ambition 24hours, which supplied Nurse Aylward, said it could not comment as an internal investigation was being held.

The BBC said a confidential report by Wiltshire social services, leaked to them, concluded the agency was aware it was required to supply a nurse with training in the use of a ventilator, but the company did not have adequate systems in place to check what training their staff had received.

Despite his disabilities, Merrett had been able to talk, use a wheelchair and operate a computer using voice-activated technology.

His sister Karren Reynolds told the BBC his level of understanding has now dropped to that of a young child.

“His life is completely changed. He doesn’t have a life now. He has an existence but it’s nowhere near what it was before.”

Overall responsibility for Merrett’s care lies with NHS Wiltshire.

The NHS Wiltshire Primary Care Trust said: “NHS Wiltshire is committed to helping patients stay at home, provided that is safe. We have an established policy which sets out how we will provide care for people at home.”

Chief executive of the Patients’ Association, Katherine Murphy, condemned “this appalling lapse in care.”