Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1526515
11 EDITORIAL maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 11 SEPTEMBER 2024 THE inquiry carried out by Magistrate Joe Mifsud into the untimely death of Stephen Mangion in the waiting area of Mater Dei Hospital's emergency exonerated all medical staff from negligent behaviour. The serious medical condition that caused Mangion's death was not detected because it presented atypical symptoms and three ECGs carried out throughout the evening did not indicate a heart attack. At the Floriana health centre, Mangion was seen by a doctor and had an ECG test. The doctor recommend- ed Mangion go to Mater Dei but an ambulance was not available at the time. A friend of Mangion, who is a nurse, opted to drive him to hospital instead. It does not transpire that the time it took Mangion to reach the hospital was critical to his eventual death. Indeed, the inquiry found that what was more critical was Mangion's 15-hour delay to seek medical atten- tion from the moment he started feeling chest pains. At hospital, Mangion was seen by a triage nurse and was classified as an urgent case. The inquiry found that there were 22 patients at the time classified as urgent cases, eight of them with chest pains. Two ECG tests were carried out on Mangion as he waited at emergen- cy. The inquiry found that given Mangion's symptoms and the test results the medical urgency classification he was given was correct. It would seem, Mangion's death was inevitable at that point since doctors had not yet diagnosed him with a damaged aorta that was causing blood to build in the artery's walls. The symptoms Mangion was describing to every doctor who saw him were not typical to the condition he had. The magisterial inquiry concluded that this factor, the length of time it took Mangion to seek help and the fact that he had long stopped medication for high blood pressure, meant medical staff could "not reasonably diagnose his condition". The magistrate ruled out negligence and insisted there were no grounds for criminal action to be taken against anyone. However, the magistrate also made a pertinent ob- servation on comments made on Facebook soon after Mangion died. These also formed part of his investi- gation. One particular comment, which sparked outrage be- cause it claimed that Mangion was left untreated in the hospital waiting area despite complaining with chest pain, could not be traced because the profile that made it was deleted. The probability is that it was a fake profile peddling false claims or half-truths. However, the magistrate also reserved harsh words for former MP Jason Azzopardi and two other private individuals, who claimed on social media that Man- gion died because of negligence. Ostensibly, these comments were based on the false claims made by the fake profile. It has to be noted that Mangion's death would have always raised alarm, given that he died in a hospital waiting area. The situation was only made worse by the spurious comments made by Azzopardi and oth- ers, which is why caution is required in circumstances like these. The Mifsud inquiry has closed the criminal chapter unequivocally. However, a second independent in- quiry set up by the Health Ministry to assess the med- ical care and procedures adopted in Mangion's case is ongoing. Hopefully, this second inquiry could suggest wheth- er certain medical protocols need to be amended to cater for extraordinary circumstances like those that presented themselves in Mangion's case. The Health Ministry did well to publish the Mifsud inquiry in its totality. The transparency was necessary to allay fears. Similarly, we expect that the findings of the independent inquiry will also be published. The fact that medical professionals were exonerated in Mangion's case does not, however, exonerate the government from providing the necessary resources to improve healthcare services. People have experi- enced lengthy waiting times at the emergency depart- ment because of a lack of beds and staff shortages. These are issues the Health Ministry must address with urgency. But at the same time, the Medical Association of Malta must also play ball when government decides to introduce new procedures at emergency that ensure better and smoother patient care. After all, the meas- ures proposed by the Health Ministry are adopted in other countries as well – it's not as if we are inventing the wheel. While MAM has every right to defend its members, obstructionism for the simple sake of being difficult is not on and simply makes patients' lives more mis- erable. Lessons from the magisterial inquiry into Stephen Mangion's death maltatoday MaltaToday, MediaToday Co. Ltd, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 MANAGING EDITOR: SAVIOUR BALZAN EXECUTIVE EDITOR: KURT SANSONE EDITOR: PAUL COCKS Tel: (356) 21 382741-3, 21 382745-6 Website: www.maltatoday.com.mt E-mail: dailynews@mediatoday.com.mt The world is clearly not on holiday. This leads me to a point that I have raised on oth- er occasions - the lack of world leaders and leadership to tack- le most of these issues. Global institutions together with regional ones, look weak and ineffective in dealing with all or even some of these chal- lenges. This does not bode well for mankind. We need to strive for a better world, but it appears that the opposite is happening. We Maltese cannot be short sighted and argue that what happens elsewhere does not affect us or is not of interest to us. Those who think in such a way are naive and do not un- derstand that we are intercon- nected globally and that what- ever happens elsewhere could impact us. I want to believe, and I am still hopeful, that if world leaders have the courage, the will and commitment to start working for the greater good, the world could be a better place. Maybe then, we, the people living on this planet, can really take a holiday without fearing what is happening around us. A lot is going on inside the Labour Party as well. We, the party activists and delegates, should not be afraid of change. Change is good because it helps us to improve ourselves and ultimately it will also benefit the country.