'She kept asking for help': Iqaluit woman monitored daily by nurses dies from liver failure

An Iqaluit woman is speaking out about Nunavut's health care system, after her mother died from liver failure despiteregular visits from nurses who failed to note her symptoms.

According to a coroner's report released last week, Bernice Clarke's mother AnnieKootoodied in 2015 from liver failure caused by the drug she was taking to treat tuberculosis.

When Kootoo, 61,was diagnosed with tuberculosis in November 2014, she was sent home to be treated by the public health team, as there was a shortage of isolation beds at the hospital.

The medication she was being given to treat tuberculosis can be toxic to the liver, and she was warned to avoid takingTylenol, to lower the risk of liver problems.

In the following weeks, she was visited at home by nurses to monitorher tuberculosis treatment.

During a number of visits in December,Kootoo complained of loss of appetite, as well as fatigue and a sore neck. The nurses didn't perform a physical assessment, chart her complaints or inform her doctor.

"She kept asking for help, and the nurses didn't listen," said Clarke.

"A simple blood test. One hour. That's what would have saved my mother."

• Language barriers threaten patient safety at Iqaluit hospital, says report

According to the coroner'sreport, when Kootoo contacted the hospital to report her symptoms, she was told her TB physician was on vacation and she would have to wait for her follow-up appointment at the end of December.

On Dec. 29, she was admitted to the emergency room at QikiqtaniHospital, where doctorswere told she had been experiencing symptoms such as loss of appetite, fatigue andyellowing of the eyesfor two weeks. Blood tests were done.She was diagnosed with acute liver failure andmedevaced to Ottawa.

Her condition deteriorated and she fell into a coma Jan. 3. She died thatnight.

Family petitions for investigation

Kootoo's family asked the coroner to investigate her death and the medical treatment she received.

"They didn't listen to my mother," said Clarke. "And for the nurses, like, you're there to help people. You're there to save lives. What happened to these people that didn't catch her?"

The coroner's report makes11 recommendations. They include that the nursing licensing board review the competency of the nurses involved in this case and thathealth care professionals should follow the Nunavut government's standards for assessing patients.

The report also recommends health care providers use Inuktitut translatorsto inform patients and family membersabout possible complications of TB medication and signs and symptoms towatch for, along with written instructions in English and Inuktitut.

Clarke says more needs to be done.

"What I would likeis more Inuktitut-speaking in the medical field," she said, adding that Nunavut's health care system is "dangerous" without it.

Clarke also called for everyone, Inuit and non-Inuit,to be treated equally.

The Department of Health says it's reviewing the recommendations.