A BC Conservative MLA is speaking out about what she says is the preventable death of a young man in Kitimat.
MLA Claire Rattée spoke about the incident on Tuesday, saying this is another example of “the NDP’s failures in emergency care and diagnostic access in Northern B.C.”
The young man, identified only as Vincent, passed away three weeks ago in Kitimat Hospital from a congenital hernia, according to Rattée.
“The fact of the matter is, a year ago, they went to the Kitimat Hospital. He was complaining of severe stomach pain. He was in excruciating pain. They dismissed it as constipation, sent him home,” Rattée said.
“He missed six weeks of school. You know, he was again in excruciating pain 22 days ago, 23 now. His mother brought him into the hospital, and they arrived at the hospital at about 5:10 p.m. And it took almost five hours before they finally ordered the CT scan.”
In September 2024, Northern Health announced that funding had been committed and planning had begun for a new CT scanner at Kitimat Hospital.
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According to Northern Health, the CT scanner installation project was in the planning phase that September, and the new CT would go into service for “urgent and semi-urgent diagnostic needs while application training takes place, with full services to begin in 2026.”
However, Rattée said the CT scanner is not operational yet.
“It took them up until August of this year to even begin construction,” she said.
“And there’s been a number of really significant cases that things have been missed due to the fact that the CT scanner isn’t running. Ultimately, Vincent passed away at about 10:48 p.m. Like I said, after being there for almost six hours at that point, and it took almost five for there to be a determination that he needed that CT scan.
“And then at that point they were waiting for an ambulance, and he ultimately passed away while being transferred onto the gurney to be able to get taken to Terrace. And the family is devastated and they don’t know how this happened.”
B.C. Health Minister Josie Osborne said she is unable to talk about specific cases, but is encouraging anyone with concerns about care to contact the patient care quality office.
Rattée said she would like to see some accountability from the government and the CT scanner to be up and running soon.
“I think that there are a number of different factors that contributed here,” Rattée said.
“I certainly think in my estimation the biggest problem is the fact that the C T scanner isn’t operational, but there was there was a multitude of errors that happened that led to this, obviously.”
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