Monday, November 25, 2013

Grandson of nursing home insulin victim speaks out - ABC Online


Paul Hogue told Jill Emberson from 1233 ABC Newcastle Mornings that his 91-year-old grandmother Audrey has been badly affected after barely surviving being injected with insulin by an unknown person.


She had been a resident at Summitcare's Sugarloaf Gardens nursing home at Wallsend, where two other residents both died in October after being given similar injections.


Neither Ryan Kelly, 80, Gwen Fowler, 83, or Paul's grandmother were diabetics but were rushed to hospital suffering hypoglycaemia from an excess of insulin.


In fact Paul says Audrey was on very little medication, just painkillers for her arthritis and antidepressants.


When she was first taken to hospital it was believed she had suffered a mild stroke, then family members were told she'd been given the wrong medication.


Paul says his grandmother had been at the home for around three years, but she and family members had some concerns about her care and the level of staffing provided.


Before the insulin overdose Paul says Audrey was in very good shape for her age and enjoyed the social opportunities the home provided.


"She was a very, very sprightly 91-year-old lady and now she can't get out of bed or dress herself, or go to the toilet or feed herself," he says.


"She's still like a shadow, really, of her former self."


During the several weeks she was in hospital Paul says the family feared she wouldn't survive.


"There was probably about three or four times we've thought that she's going to die, we were really preparing ourselves for that," he says.


Audrey is now in a different home, and while she realises she's been through an ordeal is not aware of the circumstances or the deaths of the two other residents.


Paul says the idea that someone tried to kill his grandmother and is still on the loose is surreal for the family.


"It feels a bit like a B-grade movie, it's just not quite real," he says.


"We think of the other families and what they must have been through, all the grief and the trauma.


"We're traumatised, and she's still alive.


"And the fact that they still exist, that person is still walking around doing what they do every single day, and no one has a clue who they are."


Paul says he and other family members have made lengthy statements to police.


"It's a waiting game, but it's a scary waiting game, it really is," he says.


Strike Force Correa says its investigators are interviewing all relevant witnesses, looking at CCTV footage and seeking advice from medical and forensics experts as they construct a timeline of events.


Meanwhile Summitcare has a message on its website saying it has put "heightened security measures" in place and continues to fully cooperate with the police investigation.


Chief executive officer Cynthia Payne says the head of the strike force has told her the investigation will take many weeks, if not months.


You can hear the audio of Paul Hogue on 1233 Mornings here.



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