By: Barrie Quappé RN, BSN – Consultant/Director:
The future of Cayman healthcare needs some serious resuscitation.
The problem is that responsibility for healthcare keeps getting assigned to various assortments under a Ministry that places it at the bottom of the priority list. The result is there is no growth at the regulatory level while the need for healthcare, plus advances in types of services provided in the Cayman Islands, is increasing. The dedicated staff at the Department of Health Regulatory Services (‘DHRS’) have dwindled in numbers since 2009. While the staff manage as best they can, this has resulted in some applications allegedly not being processed in a business-friendly time frame.
Consider the topics of environment and healthcare. More people are worried about the environment, the dump, pollutants and recycling, right? So, healthcare runs in second place. What about Culture and Healthcare? Festivals, cultural identity etc. wins!
Meanwhile a golden opportunity for a new ‘leg’ to our economy is still being tolerated at best and no attention paid to proposals that have been submitted to create a strong foundation to build this new economic leg that could benefit all. Overall I mean new health care facilities, generally but specifically, I am referring to clinical trials. Grand Cayman does have a few trials underway, one whose first year of data generated in their Cayman laboratory was accepted by the US’s FDA.
That’s a strong start.
What about the safety and accountability oversight of healthcare? When a medical error occurs, how is this reviewed, with a view to make improvements to avoid his type of incident again?
If the immediate facility does nothing, then what? Edwin writes that:
“By not disclosing a medical error, the doctor conspicuously places his own interests above that of the patient, to the detriment of the patient, thereby violating a patient-centered ethic. Moral courage is therefore needed if doctors are to do the right thing when medical errors.” (Edwin, 2009, p.34)
For those concerned that disclosure may bring on “legal liability, patient distress, and loss of reputation or privileges”(Edwin, 2009, p.36), the data does not support this fear. In fact:
“…after instituting a comprehensive program which included open communication with patients and their representatives, apologizing for their mistakes and learning from them, open discussions with claimants and voluntary compensations of those harmed by those errors, the University of Michigan’s attorney’s fees decreased by two-thirds while their malpractice filings decreased by 50%.” (Edwin, 2009, p.37)
How about the recent injections case? As reported in January 2017:
“A 50-year old West Bay woman remains in police custody after being accused of illegally performing cosmetic procedures. Police received a complaint from a woman suffering severe skin reactions after getting facial injections from the woman, according to an RCIPS press release. The complainant required medical treatment for her injuries.”(Cayman 27; accessed here: https://cayman27.ky/2017/01/woman-arrested-for-illegal-cosmetic-procedures/ )
This case then continued as the same individual was arrested a second time. I have not been able to locate the outcome of this at this writing. One news outlet reported that this was not the first time this individual had been arrested under similar allegations. How many others go unreported?
We now have a fresh opportunity to improve and indeed grow our healthcare industry to new heights. Will the newly elected members, however, prioritise this down to the bottom of the priority list as it has been done for some time? It would be a real shame and for some affected patients, egregious at best.
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Relevant Links:
- Edwin, A.K. (2009) ‘Non-Disclosure of Medical Errors an Egregious Violation of Ethical Principals’, Ghana Medical Journal, 43(1), March, pp.34 – 39.
This is a great article by you Barrie.