British man brain-damaged after "accidental" ventilator switch-off

Oct 25, 2010, 15:16 GMT

London - A nurse working for a care agency in Britain has been suspended following allegations that she accidentally switched off a patient's life support machine, leaving him severely brain- damaged, a BBC report said Monday.

According to the broadcaster's Inside Out programme, the nurse, Violetta Aylward, was filmed switching of the ventilator at the home of Jamie Merrett, who had been left paralysed from the neck down following a car accident in 2002.

When the machine was restarted after 21 minutes, it was clear that Merrett had suffered serious brain damage, said television programme, due to be screened later Monday, said.

Merrett reportedly had the camera installed in his home in Devizes, Wiltshire, because he did not trust the care he was receiving.

The nurse's employers, a care firm called Ambition 24 hours, which was contracted by Britain's state National Health Service (NHS), said it would not comment while investigations were continuing.

But the BBC, citing a confidential document from the Wiltshire social services, said Ambition 24 had admitted that it had no adequate system in place to check what training their staff had received.

Until the incident, in January 2009, Merrett, despite his disabilities, had been able to talk, use a wheelchair and operate a computer using voice-activated technology, his sister told the BBC.

The NHS in Wiltshire said it had put in place a series of measures to ensure that such an event could not occur again, but could not say more as the incident was likely to be subject to litigation.

A solicitor acting for Merrett said: 'In my experience, this is the worst case of negligence on the part of a nurse.'