Review into Nunavut baby’s death progressing toward fall completion

Katherine Peterson, who is conducting a review into the Nunavut government’s actions following the death of a Cape Dorset infant in 2012, says she has nearly completed the research phase and plans to begin writing her report by the end of summer. (FILE PHOTO)

Katherine Peterson, tasked with reviewing the actions taken by the Government of Nunavut after the 2012 death of a Cape Dorset infant, says she’s confident her report will give Nunavummiut answers to questions still swirling around the tragedy.

That means she will be looking at a number of aspects to this story, including historic complaints filed against the nurse involved in the baby’s death and the actions of the coroner afterward.

“I think I have a reasonable handle on the facts… and on various points where the train may have left the rails,” Peterson said in a June 24 interview with Nunatsiaq News in the lobby of Iqaluit’s Capital Suites hotel.

“Are all the things in my report going to be complimentary to the government? Certainly not. Do they have the courage to put it out to the public? I’m assuming they will,” Peterson added. And if not?

“Well, then I think public pressures will come to bear on that: people in Nunavut, the press, members of the assembly like David Joanasie, saying, just a minute, this is my constituency, and I want answers.”

In February, Health Minister Paul Okalik charged Peterson with reviewing government actions following the death of three-month old Makibi Olayuk Akesuk in Cape Dorset in April 2012.

Okalik’s announcement came after a CBC investigation which alleged, last October, that government officials put the community’s health at risk by mishandling how they dealt with the nurse at the centre of this controversy, Debbie McKeown.

Gwen Slade, a former co-worker of McKeown’s at the Cape Dorset health centre, told Nunatsiaq News in February that she filed nearly 20 complaints against McKeown in 2011 and early 2012, but government officials did nothing to intervene.

And earlier this month the parents of Baby Makibi said they’re “fed up” with trying to find answers about their child’s death and are demanding a coroner’s inquest to sort it out.

But Peterson said many of the facts surrounding Baby Makibi’s death already seem to be known and that might be why the coroner didn’t call an inquest — an expensive process that can stir up painful memories for those involved.

“In this situation, the cause of death seemed to be known. The circumstances seemed to be known, and the circumstances preceding and immediately following the death seemed to be known,” Peterson said.

“So that aspect of using an inquest to find out what went on here seemed to be missing from this particular scenario.”

Peterson has said in the past that she planned to take a broad and liberal view of the mandate given to her by Okalik, despite the fact the review’s terms of reference exclude events prior to Makibi’s death.

Part of her review will include examining those complaints against McKeown that date back to 2011.

“If we’re going to do a review, let’s not be silly about it. Let’s not create artificial barriers. There’s an appetite in the public, certainly within the family, to have an understanding of what happened. So let’s try to deal with that,” she said.

Peterson also plans to look at the bigger picture: how the GN can better meet the challenges of delivering health care in remote, isolated Nunavut communities, including training and paying of community nurses.

“What’s really become apparent to me is how many pieces are involved in the delivery of good health care to the person who goes to the health centre in any given community,” Peterson said.

Those pieces include nurses, support staff, administrators and politicians who probably don’t realize how much their jobs affect the jobs of others.

“When some of those pieces are broken, the ripple impact is enormous,” Peterson said.

For a consistently well-functioning delivery of health care, Peterson said a sense of trust and respect must be restored between Nunavummiut and the people who care for their health in the communities and she plans to look at ways that trust and respect can be improved.

Some aspects of Baby Makibi’s death are unique to the time and place it occurred, Peterson said, but similar problems exist in varying degrees across Nunavut.

“It would be foolish to assume that there aren’t similar situations in other places, given what I’ve seen and what I’ve come across,” she said.

In the past four months Peterson said she’s traveled to four Nunavut communities, including one trip to Cape Dorset in March where she spoke to locals on the street, in her hotel room and during a call-in radio show.

Cape Dorset residents were understandably angry, confrontational and unhappy about their health centre when the story about Baby Makibi broke, Peterson said.

Peterson also said she’s waded through thousands of documents and has spoken to around two dozen officials with the health department, Nunavut’s nurse-licensing body and other health care professionals in the past few months.

Peterson said she has completed the bulk of her research and plans to start writing her report at the end of summer. The review is due for completion by the end of October.