Beware the Grieving Warrior: A Child's Preventable Death - A Struggle for Truth, Healing, and ChangeIn early 2003, Ontario's deputy chief coroner ordered an inquest into the tragic deaths of two children due to post-operative complications in a Hamilton hospital. The cases may never have been reported were it not for John Lewis, a registered nurse, and father of 11-year-old Claire -- one of the two children. Beware the Grieving Warrior describes John's fight, in the midst of immeasurable grief and sorrow, against hospital staff and administration who failed to acknowledge their neglect. By turns shocking and heartrending, infuriating and inspiring, this book offers a chilling first-hand account of the obstacles and resistance Lewis encountered as he wound through a hellish maze of bureaucracy, until he won his day in court. The story is intensely intimate and brutally honest. It is about the suffering that inevitably results -- for patients, their families, and for the health care professionals involved -- when the truth is withheld. |
Contents
FOREWORDS | 1 |
Chapter 1 THE END OF THE WORLD AS THEY KNEW IT | 11 |
Chapter 2 A PROFOUND SENSE OF DUTY | 35 |
Chapter 3 CONNECTING THE DOTS | 49 |
Chapter 4 THROUGH A LONG DARK SILENCE | 69 |
Chapter 5 A LINE IN THE SAND | 85 |
Chapter 6 LETTERS ARE EXCHANGED | 101 |
Chapter 7 HONOURING CLAIRE | 129 |
Chapter 8 WE ARE NOT ALONE | 143 |
Chapter 9 THE MARK OF GRIEF | 167 |
Chapter 10 OUT IN THE OPEN | 181 |
Chapter 11 THE KILLER BLOW | 197 |
Chapter 12 FAR FROM OVER | 217 |
POSTSCRIPT | 259 |