THERE has been an outpouring of sadness and emotion, in and around the Mirboo North community in the past week, after the sudden, tragic passing of community legend, 74-year-old Bernice Snell.
Mrs Snell, who is the mother of former Australian Opals Basketball Captain, Belinda Snell, and soon to have been a grandmother to her 14th grandchild, died in the Latrobe Regional Hospital shortly before 1am on Sunday, August 25 where she went for treatment on a suspected blood clot in her leg, at 10am on Saturday.
It has been reported that Mrs Snell had recently changed her medications and had been warned by her GP that at the first sign of any issue with her leg, she should immediately escalate her response.
So, when she had swelling and a sore leg on Saturday morning, she went, together with her daughter Lauren, to the emergency department at Latrobe Regional Hospital.
Potentially as a result of a lack of resourcing at the hospital, Mrs Snell didn’t get the care you would expect at the highest-level health service in the Gippsland region, and she died of an associated heart attack early on Sunday morning.
Mrs Snell reportedly waited six hours initially, with as many as 30 other people in the ED waiting room, until she was seen, and a blood test was suggested.
Her family doesn’t know if that blood test went ahead but she was eventually put into a bed in the Tambo Ward at LRH, but because she'd already had to wait six hours, she'd missed out on the on-call radiologist, and allegedly because her condition was not deemed as being in the urgent category, she was to wait until the next morning when another radiologist would be on duty, reportedly because of the cost associated with getting an after-hours’ radiologist to attend.
Bernice’s son, Matthew, spoke on ABC Gippsland Radio on Friday, expressing his concern that the level of care at Latrobe Regional Hospital, may not have been what it should have been.
“She had a change in medication and with some of our family members having a history of clotting, although mum hadn't had clotting before, she went to emergency on Saturday morning, 10am she got there, and said look mum's leg is swollen and we are worried about clotting, as there has been various clotting incidents in our family.
“We were told to bring her in here straightaway if there were any signs after the change of medication, including swelling in the leg.”
Mr Snell said they followed the doctor’s instructions by going to the ED at Latrobe Regional, but she wasn’t seen for six hours.
“Look, I'm hoping it's just a lack of resourcing to be honest, because that's the only thing that's sort of… I don’t want to think about other things at this stage but hopefully, you know, the level of care we would have thought, your mum’s going to a spot where she was going to receive care, and not to receive any, in that length of time, was pretty poor.
“And obviously there's some things after that too that still need some explaining as well.”
Mr Snell went on to say that his mother received no treatment, to his knowledge, in the waiting room.
“She was taken in and then sort of went through triage, I think it was about 4.20pm was the first time she'd actually been seen, and they said they might do a blood test – six hours from when she first arrived in the Emergency Department.”
Mr Snell said the attendants at the hospital were told about his mother’s condition and asked about possible treatments but said it wasn’t deemed to be necessary.
“If she had at least received some treatment, and then died, I’d happily live with that. If she got the anticoagulants and things like that when she first went in or even you know, at six o'clock or eight o'clock at night or nine o'clock or had an ultrasound. There's no reason why you can’t have an ultrasound there during the day to check. There were people there all day doing that.”
Mr Snell said his mother ultimately had a heart attack at some time before 1am on Sunday at which point resuscitation was unsuccessfully attempted.
“And the problem for me is you had so many people trying to resuscitate her, wouldn’t it have been great if one or two people of those people had spent some time, hours earlier, and hopefully you might not have been in that situation.”
Latrobe Regional Hospital Chief Executive Don McCray has offered his condolences to Mrs Snell’s family. He said the Emergency Department team had spoken with members of the family during the week to answer any questions and had offered to meet with them in person.
“I appreciate this is also a sad time for the people of Mirboo North who have lost a dear friend and contributor to many community causes.
“While Mrs Snell was at our hospital, she was being observed regularly and received ongoing care from our nursing and medical teams. Mrs Snell had also been admitted to our Tambo short stay unit while awaiting further tests.
“Mrs Snell’s death is under active investigation by Latrobe Regional Hospital.”
There has been a big community response to Mrs Snell’s death, not only as a result of her extensive community involvements but also because of the circumstances of her death.
Among the tributes posted on social media during the week was a photo of team of basketball singlets upturned on the clothesline, indicating Bernice’s contribution to the game locally and also that her community involvements will be sorely missed.
Danny O'Brien MP has questions
Gippsland South MP Danny O’Brien also followed it up in Question Time in State Parliament on Thursday, September 1 concerned the level of care provided to Mrs Snell had been impacted by problems affecting the health system generally.
“My question is to the Minister for Health, 74-year-old Bernice Snell from Mirboo North attended Latrobe Regional Hospital on Saturday with leg swelling and pain from a suspected deep-vein thrombosis. Bernice had recently had a change of medication and was told to attend the ED immediately if she experienced any pain. After arriving at around 10am with her daughter, due to stretched resources it was more than 6 hours before Bernice was seen by a doctor and blood tests were taken. She was eventually admitted 2 hours later. In the early hours of Sunday morning Bernice had a heart attack and, tragically, died. How is a 74-year-old woman in pain being forced to wait 6 hours for treatment and then tragically losing her life acceptable in this state?
State Minister for Health, Mary-Anne Thomas, took the question.
“I thank the member for his question, and can I express my sadness and condolences to Bernice’s family at what must be a very, very difficult time. Once again, our hospitals and our healthcare system are full of people who have made an exceptional effort over the last 2½ years to deliver the very best health care in the most difficult of circumstances. At every step of the way a person under the care of our health system is being assessed at every point. People are treated when they present to our healthcare services based on their urgency, their acuity and complexity. These are clinical decisions that are made in the health service in terms of the timeliness of care. Once again, if Bernice’s family want me to look into this further for them, I am very happy to do so.
Mr O’Brien asked a supplementary question:
Bernice was a stalwart of Mirboo North, and her community is devastated by her sudden death. Her family just wants to ensure that a death like Bernice’s does not happen again due to delays in getting treatment at overworked emergency departments. How many more people have to die before the crisis in our health system is acknowledged and finally fixed?
Minister Thomas continued:
Once again I extend my sympathies to Bernice’s family and indeed the community of Mirboo North at what must be a very difficult time. Of course, any incident like this is a tragic one, and once again I extend my support to the member. I am happy to look into this further and get more answers if indeed the family feel that that is what they would like to do. I will finally make the point that people in our health system do not always have good outcomes.
Mr O’Brien posted the following on social media:
I was saddened to hear earlier this week of the death of Mirboo North stalwart Bernice Snell but I was devastated to later learn her death was unexpected and occurred after a six hour wait to see a doctor at a hospital emergency department. Bernice was a champion for the Mirboo North community and her loss is being felt by many. Her devastated family asked me to help seek answers and I did today in Parliament - easily the hardest question I’ve asked. To her credit, the Minister has since followed up with me and will be contacting the family. My condolences to the Snell family and all who knew and loved Bernice.
A Funeral Service for Mrs. Bernice Margaret Snell will be held at St Joseph's Catholic Church, Ridgway, Mirboo North on Friday, September 9, 2022 commencing 10am. The funeral will leave at the conclusion of the service for the Mirboo North Cemetery.
