Health Care Tragedies

I would hope that if anything should happen to anyone I know, and they were in need of health care, that it would happen in a caring and non-judgmental atmosphere, no matter what. I feel confident in that happening.

It’s not always easy to think that there are people who will draw a line between the health care they provide for one person versus another.

Joyce Echaquan, 37, a member of the Atikamekw Nation and a mother of seven was in the hospital in Joliette Quebec, due to stomach pain. As in previous visits to health care providers, she recorded things she needed another to either interpret and/or as in this case witness for her.

Ms. Echaquan’s family insists she was allergic to morphine. Whether that was so or not, there was little attention given to her concern.

So, Ms Echaquan turned to Facebook to make the record of what she was going through. Shockingly, everyone was going to be able to hear the health care employees abusing her instead of reassuring her and sadly, those would be the last things she would have heard on this earth. She died shortly thereafter.

Regrettably, this hospital was not even being recommended by her own community, preferring to have their residents go to another hospital, due to the abusive nature of the staff. Whether she knew this or not is unclear but what is known is that she was using Facebook to create a record of the treatment she was receiving.

Will there be an inquest into the death of Ms. Echaquan? And if there is and it’s found that morphine was administered contrary to her objections and it killed her, will the finding rule her death a homicide? And if so, will there actually be charges laid?

Whether there’s an inquest of not unfortunately, this is not the first occurrence of an Indigenous person going to a hospital only to be ignored and abused.

In September 2008, Brian Sinclair, 45 years old, had attended the Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg Manitoba, being sent there directly from his doctor’s office for immediate attention.

Unfortunately, the staff at the hospital didn’t prioritize Mr. Sinclair. Over the course of next day or so, other patients in the emergency room would bring the fact that Mr. Sinclair was still waiting and didn’t look good.

Indeed, Mr. Sinclair was not well. He needed immediate attention, yet he didn’t receive it. He was vomiting and he was likely dehydrated by the second day. When finally, he was recognized, they found he was dead, without ever being attended to or treated, with no one to assist him at all; no nursing staff or security. Other patients who had tried to bring attention to him were rebuffed by staff.

Eventually, there was an inquest, but it fell short of calling Mr. Sinclair’s death a homicide. They did address the failing of the health care system that killed him though, making 63 recommendations.

These are not isolated and rare cases for the Indigenous. When someone dies in hospital it’s sad. Families are shaken and distraught. When someone dies in hospital, having been ignored or mistreated, it’s a tragedy. We don’t need more tragedies. We need health care workers who live by their Code of Ethics.

The following is part of the 2017 Code of Ethics for Registered Nurses in Canada, printed by the Canadian Nurses Association.

Nurses’ Self-Reflection and Dialogue

…Nurses need to recognize that they are moral agents in providing care. This means that they have a responsibility to conduct themselves ethically in what they do and how they interact with persons receiving care…

Quality Practice Recognitions

…Nurses and employers have an obligation to advocate for conditions that support ethical nursing practice, including quality practice environments – for the benefit of persons receiving care and for each other…