HAMBLIN: NIGHTMARE OF TRIPLE DOSE NURSE

A nurse who gave a dying woman almost three times the prescribed amount of pure heroin told a said today (THURS) he would remember the patient until the day he dies.

Stephen Hamblin, 38, tripled the dose of diamorphine and failed to replace the woman’s glyceryl trinitrate (GTN) infusion after it ran out, the Nursing and Midwifery Council heard.

Hamblin was employed as an agency nurse on ward L2 for critically ill elderly patients at The Hope Hospital, Stott Lane, Salford, at the time of the incident on July 26, 2002,

He had given the 80-year-old woman, known only as patient A, 6.25mg of diamorphine over a fourhour period when she had only been prescribed a maximum of 2.25mg.

Hamblin, now living in Edinbrugh, said today (Thurs)that the doctor’s prescription for
administering the diamorphine was contradictory and unclear.

‘I have never seen a prescription like that, it was not how to write it,’ he said.

He said he gave the dying woman the doses as she was struggling to breathe.

‘Her (patient A’s) condition was awful.

‘She was in severe respiratory distress. That was the reason for me giving her diamorphine.

‘She was finding it far too difficult to breathe. This is a patient I will remember until the day I die.

‘The diamorphine did help. It eased her respiratory distress.’

He is also accused of stopping the critically ill woman’s heart medication  when he had
no authority to do so.

Hamblin, who denies all the charges, said that the GTN pump stopped of its
own accord after running out of medication.

He said when he tried to find more GTN medication to resume the infusion
there was none available.

‘Her GTN pump concluded its infusion. I was told night staff had used the
last vial of GTN.’

He said he organised for the hospital’s pharmacist to have some more
medication sent to the ward and as it was coming to the end of his shift he
passed this information onto another nurse

But he told the hearing that the nurse taking over from him at the time
could have misinterpreted his words.

‘I said the pump had stopped and that we were waiting on GTN or that we
didn’t have any GTN.’

The hearing heard that a hospital priest read the woman her last rites
whilst Hamblin was caring for her.

During his shift Hamblin requested for the patient to be transferred to a
high dependency unit at the hospital but was told there were no beds
available, he told the hearing.

Earlier the NMC panel heard that patient A  had suffered a suspected heart
attack and doctors had decided that if she stopped breathing she would not
be resuscitated.

But they had decided to continue with her drug treatment.

John Sharples, for the NMC, said: ‘Although the patient was prescribed a
maximum of 2.5mg of diamorphine in any four hour period she was given 6.25mg
by Hamblin.’

He added: ‘Whether the registrant stopped the GTN or failed to restart it’s
the council case it still amounts to misconduct on his part.

‘Patient A was particularly ill and vulnerable and was entitled to expect
nurses responsible for her care to implement her care regime carefully.’

The woman was admitted to the hospital after falling out of bed but her
condition deteriorated and she died the day after the alleged incident on
July 27, 2002.

Hamblin, now living in Edinburgh, denies that having stopped patient A’s GTN
infusion he failed to record in the patient notes his reason for doing so;
that he failed to take appropriate action when the patient’s infusion ran
out; that between 8am and 12.25pm he administered to patient A 6.25mg of
diamorphine which was in excess of the amount prescribed.

If he is found guilty of misconduct he could be struck off.

The hearing continues.
ends