BARRIE, Ont. — A Midland nurse on trial for disconnecting a patient\u2019s life support testified she asked the doctors, nurses and her team leader, but \u201cnobody\u201d told her there was a hospital policy for end-of-life procedures. Nurse Joanna Flynn, 51, admitted she is the one who disconnected Deanna Leblanc\u2019s life support without authority, but has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and criminal negligence causing death.<\/p>\n
Leblanc, 39, a wife and mother of two, went into cardiac arrest in the middle of the night and was resuscitated several times before being put on a ventilator at the Midland hospital on March 2, 2014. Doctors have testified she might have been severely brain damaged because due to a lack of oxygen, but that it was too early to make any decisions because sedating medication could affect her brain activity.<\/p>\n
An expert also testified that nurses have \u201cno role\u201d in the decision.<\/p>\n
Flynn gave a different version of the story on Tuesday. \u201cI asked other staff if we had any policies in place on end-of-life decisions and no one was aware of any,\u201d Flynn testified.<\/p>\n
\u201cMiss Flynn, why didn\u2019t you get a doctor\u2019s order before removing life support?\u201d asked her lawyer, Samantha Peeris. \u201cI didn\u2019t believe I needed an order,\u201d Flynn answered. She explained she followed guidelines of the Ontario College of Nurses, which stated the decision must be made by a substitute decision maker \u2014 which was the patient\u2019s husband, Mike Leblanc.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was legally obligated to follow the husband\u2019s wishes,\u201d Flynn testified. \u201cHe told me he wanted to go through with it.\u201d She noted that the College guidelines no longer exist and suddenly disappeared from the Internet after Leblanc died.<\/p>\n
Crown attorney Bhavna Bhangu asked Flynn how she could have had enough time to understand the husband\u2019s wishes, when she disconnected life support only 75 minutes after she met him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did you know of this husband\u2019s stress level, whether or not he was in shock, his emotional level?\u201d asked Crown attorney Bhavna Bhangu. \u201cDid you ask him when he last slept?\u201d \u201cNo,\u201d answered Flynn. \u201cDid you ask him when he last had a meal?\u201d \u201cNo I did not,\u201d answered Flynn.<\/p>\n
Earlier, the husband, Mike Leblanc, wept as he testified he was devastated when Flynn told him that if she didn\u2019t shut off life support his wife\u2019s heart would \u201cexplode,\u201d or \u201cblow up.\u201d<\/p>\n
The trial continues.<\/p>\n
By:\u00a0TRACY MCLAUGHLIN<\/p>\n
Source:\u00a0cnews.canoe.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"