Nunavut baby death report credited for quick response to latest tragedy

IQALUIT, Nunavut — The prompt response to the death of a Nunavut infant under medical care is the result of a highly critical report into a previous such tragedy, said the territory’s health minister.

“I was notified very shortly after the incident occurred and the department already had the ball rolling,” George Hickes said Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Nunavut’s health department revealed two investigations were underway into the death of an infant who was in the care of staff at a nursing station in the remote central Arctic hamlet of Gjoa Haven.

Almost no details are available, including the age and gender of the infant or the cause of death. Hickes said the tragedy occurred “about a week and a half ago.”

A department spokesman confirmed the death is being investigated as a critical incident — an unexpected event causing death or serious harm when a patient is under care or receiving treatment in a health centre that didn’t result from the patient’s medical condition or from a known risk in the treatment.

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The coroner’s office is conducting its own separate investigation.

Counsellors have already been flown to Gjoa Haven to help the tiny community deal with the loss, Hickes said.

Senior officials are also in the community and interviews are already being conducted.  

The death is an uncomfortable echo of the fate of three-month-old Makibi Timilak, who died in murky circumstances in 2012 in Cape Dorset on the tip of Baffin Island. An internal review into the boy’s death heavily criticized Nunavut’s health system.  

That review found that nurses and health officials failed to follow procedures the night the baby died of sudden infant death syndrome. It concluded the death was hushed up and found a climate of fear within the health department that prevented problems from being addressed.

The nurse involved with baby Makibi’s care was eventually suspended by her nursing association.

Hickes said recommendations from that review ensured the prompt reaction to the current case.

“The procedures that have been put in place since Cape Dorset have led to the recognition of the status of the Gjoa Haven incident, where we did react immediately,” he said.

“Within moments of the incident occurring, the proper chain to the regional office then to headquarters then to myself was all followed. I think the process is working, as far as communication.”

Hickes couldn’t say if any of the report’s recommendations could have prevented the latest death.

“I don’t even know what the cause of death is. I don’t even want to hypothesize if there’s something that could have been done to change the outcome.”

Hickes promised some answers would be forthcoming within weeks.

“The community and the family and everyone involved deserves to know what happened. If there’s was any fault lying anywhere, I’ll deal with it.”

— By Bob Weber in Edmonton. Follow him on Twitter at @row1960

The Canadian Press