Son of Calgary cancer patient says mom was taken to a ‘closet’
Posted Feb 8, 2023 9:18 am.
Last Updated Feb 8, 2023 9:25 am.
A Calgary man says his cancer-diagnosed mother staying at a hospital was transferred to a different room without consent.
Bradford Mistaken Chief’s mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer after a urinary tract infection was found and was admitted to the Tom Baker Cancer Centre at Foothills Hospital in late January.
However, he didn’t like how she was transferred to a different room without her consent, calling the new space a “closet.”
“Why is my mom falling through the cracks? Her being put in a closet … when there’s a free room right freaking behind them,” Chief told CityNews.
“I mean, we are in Canada. We are considered one of the richest resource countries in the world, we are supposed to be the standard of health care, we are supposed to be the standard of living, and so many things.”
When he went to visit his mother, Lily, on Monday, he learned she was transferred to the room he says a nurse calls the “brown tile room.”
“So, I go around to this curtain, and my mom is tucked in the corner, there’s stuff in the corner with blankets over, no windows or nothing,” he said.
He says he still doesn’t know exactly when his mother was transferred to this room or why.
When Chief asked the nurse, he was shocked by her reply.
“‘Well, she was transferred from a different unit, and we just thought she would like that room because it’s really private, and a lot of people really like that room,'” Chief explained.
“And as she is telling me this, right behind her, there’s an empty room next to the nurse station.”
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In a statement, Alberta Health Services (AHS) says it has spoken with Chief’s mother directly.
“We sincerely apologize for any distress this situation has caused,” the statement reads. “To be clear, this patient was not moved to a storage room. Acute care hospitals and programs in Alberta, at times, unfortunately, operate at over 100 per cent capacity where the number of patients needing hospital beds exceeds those available in the main hospital space.”
AHS says overcapacity spaces may be “inconvenient and less private” for patients and families visiting. Adding capacity and emergency wait times coming down would mitigate this from happening.
“Patients sometimes may be moved within a facility as their care needs change and as admissions and discharges progress. We do all we can to ensure the patient is comfortable.”
Chief says there isn’t enough respect or empathy in the healthcare system.
