Politicians and influential people who used the death of Stephen Mangion to stoke anger towards hospital staff should be held responsible for their actions, Health Minister JoEtienne Abela said on Tuesday.

In a press conference held after a magisterial inquiry concluded that the medical staff who treated Mangion were clear of any wrongdoing, Abela said that these professionals had faced a barrage of public anger when they had done all they could to save his life. 

Those people who "rode on the bandwagon" of this "lie" must shoulder responsibility, the minister said, because their narratives led to people insulting medical professionals on social media and even at the emergency department in past weeks.

Mangion, a 55-year-old Valletta resident and a former police officer, collapsed and died at the Mater Dei hospital emergency waiting room last month. 

His sudden death sparked outrage on social media with claims that he had waited for hours despite reporting chest pains, first at the Floriana health centre and later at Mater Dei Hospital.

However, this inquiry concluded that he died from an aortic dissection and that while he had first experienced symptoms at 4 am, he delayed seeking medical attention by 15 hours. 

“Some people used his death for their benefit. I never thought this country would stoop so low. I never thought we would come to this,” Abela said.

“Why were opposition MPs fomenting people’s anger against the very people who are taking care of their health? Who will shoulder responsibility?”

When asked by Times of Malta to name those whom he thought should be held responsible, he would not say. 

Prompted with the names of Jason Azzopardi, Adrian Delia, Bernard Grech and Ian Vassallo Hagi, he stopped short of confirming his words were directed to them.

"Don't you think they should shoulder responsibility?" he said.

“An apology would be a start,” he added.

Inquiry published Tuesday

The inquiry, which was published on Tuesday on magistrate Joe Mifsud's advice, concluded doctors and nurses who attended to Mangion did nothing wrong and are not liable for criminal prosecution.

It revealed the victim had not been taking his prescribed medication for high blood pressure, that he delayed seeking medical help for 15 hours from the time he started feeling pain, and that he refused repeated advice from family and friends to go to the Floriana health centre.

It also found healthcare professionals in Floriana and at Mater Dei carried out three ECG tests on Mangion, none of which indicated he was suffering from a heart attack.

“Some comments on social media accused healthcare workers of manslaughter and lambasted them with accusations that they didn’t care if they killed people and that the healthcare system is drowning,” Abela said.

“Why did some people use a person’s natural death to destroy the morale of our workers at a health pillar such as the emergency department?”

He called for people and the media to be constructive when criticising the healthcare system and insisted the government is doing everything it can to fix its problems.

He said he was also prepared to publish a ministerial inquiry he had ordered into the same case. That inquiry is still ongoing and is investigating whether the healthcare systems need upgrading to avoid deaths of this sort.

The final two hours

The magisterial inquiry did not find hospital workers to be criminally responsible for Mangion’s death, but it does detail how the third and final ECG was carried out at 8.30pm that night.

Although it did not find signs of a heart attack, following that test Mangion spent almost two more hours in the waiting room, during which he complained to nurses that the pain was intensifying, before eventually collapsing at around 10.20pm.

Times of Malta asked Abela whether he believed Mangion should have been given more attention during those final two hours, especially because he was complaining of intensifying pain.

“I would be lying if I told you I don’t have an opinion about that, but that’s a diagnostical medical process – the kind of process the ministerial inquiry is looking into. For now, I’ll only keep with the conclusions of the magisterial inquiry which found there was no criminal wrongdoing. I think I’m being clear enough,” he said.

‘40 new nurses at emergency department today’

Abela also said 40 new nurses – all of whom studied and got their qualifications in Malta – started working at the emergency department as of Tuesday. He said a further number of new doctors will join them soon as part of efforts to make the department more efficient and reduce waiting hours.

He also reiterated his plans to turn around the triaging system so that patients who go to Mater Dei’s emergency department are first examined by a consultant. 

He has wanted to implement that system since becoming minister in January, he said, but the medical doctors association has so far resisted it, even though the government is prepared to pay extra for it.

“We want a decision-maker to examine patients immediately so that we make the process quicker. But there was resistance from the MAM,” he said.

Abela made his discontent with the association very clear, saying it has lately been blocking most of the ideas, initiatives and system overhauls that he believes will streamline healthcare services and make better use of human resources.