Nicosia, Cyprus. Cyprus’ state health services organisation Okypy opened an investigation on Wednesday into a family’s complaint alleging inappropriate conduct by nursing staff that they said put an elderly patient’s life at risk. The woman had been admitted to a state hospital after her private clinic could not provide the services she needed.
Complaint details
The family said a specialised nurse visited the patient and found her sound in mind and with no bruising on her limbs, but during the night after her admission to the state hospital relatives were told her condition had “severely deteriorated”.
According to the complaint filed with Okypy and forwarded to the patient rights observatory of the Cyprus Federation of Patients’ Associations, the supervising nurse called the family during the night and demanded they come to the hospital or take the patient home to care for her.
Allegations of staff conduct and injuries
The relatives said that when they arrived they found the woman delirious and screaming, while staff “looked on” and said they were “tired of taking care of her all night”. The family reported finding “extensive bruising” on the woman’s knee, which they said occurred in hospital.
According to the complaint, the nurse made a gesture “questioning the patient’s mental integrity and trying to blame us”, before asking the relatives to leave.
Medical response and surgery
The relatives reacted, and doctors then admitted physical injuries and internal bleeding, offering either compression to stop the bleeding or immediate surgery to repair the vessel, which was described as a “last resort” due to the patient’s weak heart.
The family chose compression, but a few hours later they were told the bleeding had not stopped and the woman had been taken to theatre. The operation lasted two-and-a-half hours.
According to Philenews, a nurse from the same team later approached a family member and said, in a defiantly “polite” manner: “Don’t get our hopes up, your mother will not come out of surgery alive”.
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