| Lana
Dale Lewis repeatedly complained to hospital staff about headache, neck pain
and ringing in the ears following her final chiropractic neck manipulation,
an inquest into her death has heard.Queensway General Hospital records
indicate that on Sept. 3, 1996, two days after she was admitted, the 45-year-old
Etobicoke woman complained she had had "poor peripheral vision ever since
(the) onset of headaches and left neck pains," the five-person inquest jury
heard. In a previous entry, she told neurologist Dr. Al-Noor Dhanani
the headache began at the time of the neck manipulation administered by chiropractor
Philip Emanuele, the inquest was told yesterday. In another entry on Sept. 3, a nurse noted that the patient complained about a ringing in her right ear "for many days." Peripheral vision loss and ringing in the ears are symptoms of stroke. Lewis died in the hospital after suffering two strokes on Sept. 12, 1996.Under
questioning, Jim Sweeney, Lewis' spouse of 12 years, read out the hospital
entries at the request of Lewis family lawyer Amani Oakley. In one
entry on Sept. 2, a nurse noted that Lewis complained of a persistent "knot
or ball feeling" in the back of the left side of the neck. Sweeney
testified yesterday that his wife was much too sick to work on the Wednesday,
Thursday and Friday after her last chiropractic visit on Monday, Aug. 26.In
testimony this Tuesday, however, Sweeney admitted under questioning by Brian
Foster, Emanuele's lawyer, that he is not sure she booked off that week.
"I am not certain," he said.Sweeney also agreed with Foster that for
a time after his wife began seeing Emanuele for ongoing migraine headaches
in February, 1995, she seemed to do well. "For awhile she seemed to be doing
pretty good."But Sweeney insisted that Emanuele, who was also treating
him, had once reached over the examining table and cracked the far side of
his neck, rather than walking over to the other side, as he usually did,
and on another occasion cracked one side of his neck against his express
wishes. Foster said he anticipated that his client would testify that he never once adjusted Sweeney's neck. The inquest continues Monday.
|
