Who’s to blame?

In our view, Health Minister John Rahael was too tactful by half when he said that it was “to some extent unforgivable” that two pharmacists at the Mount Hope Women’s Hospital stopped preparing intravenous food for premature babies. This act was not unforgivable “to some extent” — it is completely and utterly unforgivable. The two pharmacists stopped mixing the formula because their pay for performing this task had been delayed for three weeks. For this reason, they were prepared to let babies die. Is it that the pharmacists did not expect to ever get paid? Is it that this money put their own lives at risk in some way? But these are trivial questions. The important question is this — is there any moral difference between these two pharmacists and those bandits who shoot up homes knowing there are small children inside?

There is one difference. The bandits who sometimes shoot children do so when aiming at other targets. The two pharmacists, however, aimed their chemical bullets straight at these babies. So the pharmacists are, in fact, morally worse than the bandits. There is, however, plenty of blame to be shared around. This situation arose in the first place because the accounts department of the North Central Regional Health Authority (NCHRA) did not process the cheques on time. This inefficiency was not due to mere laziness, but was taken deliberately by clerks who were unhappy about not being promoted to their acting positions after being transferred to the NCRHA.

The staff at the Mount Hope Women’s Hospital also have to share in the blame, because they knew about the situation yet took no action — not even trying to inform the media, which would have brought a far speedier resolution to the impasse. We also wonder whether the hospital bothered to inform the parents that their babies had been placed in mortal danger. Surely if that had been done, the parents would have found some way to get the required formula. But we doubt that the hospital staff did this since, if we are to judge by the kind of work culture that exists in these RHAs, their main concern was to protect their own backs. But surely the parents can now get some smart lawyer to sue the hospital for negligence. Whatever the outcome, such action would at least identify the persons responsible for this life-threatening fiasco.

However, Minister Rahael says it would be difficult to take disciplinary action against the workers. We are sure it would be. But the health minister must make it his business to take action against the two pharmacists. It may not be possible to dismiss them for their callous action. But they must be transferred to some area where they do not have to prepare any drugs needed by babies or children. They must not continue to get extra pay for preparing this special formula. Replace them at once, or train other people to replace them as soon as possible. Nor do we expect the pharmacists’ association to raise any objection to such action. In the final analysis, these two persons are clearly not fit for their jobs.