A Penticton woman’s bravery in sharing the story of her tragic miscarriage while desperately seeking help at a hospital has reached the floor of the BC Legislature.
On Wednesday, Oct. 5, Castanet shared Sara’s* experience losing her son in a bathroom at Penticton Regional Hospital. Bloody and terrified, Sara suffered alone, waiting for help from staff, and vowed to speak up about her experience in the hope of triggering change.
Her story reached many, including Penticton MLA Dan Ashton, who in turn brought it to MLA Shirley Bond, official critic for health and MLA for Prince George-Valemont.
During question period in the Legislative Assembly Thursday, Bond referenced Sara’s story, calling it another “horrific example” and proof that the healthcare system in this province has “collapsed.”
“Families want their government and their minister to hear them to hear their voices to know the pain and sorrow that they are experiencing. Sara, a mother in her second trimester, went to the Penticton Regional Hospital ER in excruciating pain,” Bond said, quoting Castanet’s reporting.
“She was left alone for an hour and a half before being told to use the washroom where she miscarried her son.”
Sara told Castanet she “screamed for help,” and was left still connected to her deceased baby. Bond recounted that trauma for all of the MLAs to hear, adding “Even once she got to a room Sara says no one checked on her for hours. She waited again alone, traumatized and in shock.”
Bond stressed that the issue was not about blaming nurses or doctors.
“They are overwhelmed. They are demoralized, they’re overloaded. This starts at the top. And it starts with a minister who constantly fails to acknowledge the crisis that we have in our province and fails to accept responsibility for the health care outcomes,” Bond said.
“Will the minister do the honourable thing and resign.”
BC Health Minister Adrian Dix responded to Bond.
“Every time this occurs, we need to review and make the system better, to respond better to hear those voices. That’s the reason why we have independent reviews of these processes to ensure that people get a sense of agency and voice and those reviews are initiated by people in cases exactly like this,” he said.
“The important question is right now taking the steps that we are taking to continue to build a health care system that provides high-quality care for everyone. And I remain determined to do so.”
