Two reviews launched into death of Nunavut infant

IQALUIT, Nunavut — Two separate investigations are underway into the death of an infant who was in the care of staff at a nursing station in a remote Nunavut hamlet.

Almost no details are available, including the age and gender of the infant or when the baby died.

A Nunavut Health spokesman confirmed the department has launched an internal investigation.

“The baby’s death was duly reported as a critical incident,” Ron Wassink said Tuesday in a release.

“An investigation was begun immediately following the incident.”

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The Health Department defines a “critical incident” as an unexpected event causing death or serious harm when a patient is under care or receiving treatment in a health centre or hospital. The death or harm must not have resulted primarily from the patient’s medical condition or from a known risk in the treatment.  

The Nunavut coroner’s office is conducting its own review.

“We are investigating this death,” said Khen Sagadraca, assistant to Nunavut’s chief coroner.

The infant died in Gjoa Haven on King William Island off the central Nunavut coast.

The territory is in the midst of an inquest into the murky circumstances surrounding the 2012 death of another infant, three-month-old Makibi Timilak from Cape Dorset. 

An internal review into the boy’s death heavily criticized Nunavut’s health system.  

Although it was ultimately determined Makibi died of sudden infant death syndrome, the review found that nurses and health officials failed to follow procedures the night the baby died. It concluded the death was hushed up and found a climate of fear within the Health Department that prevented problems from being addressed.

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

The Canadian Press