TORONTO – On the heels of a federal government announcement by Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq to her provincial and territorial counterparts on Tuesday, which proposes to work with them in crafting a solution to the problem of escalating health costs, another health care horror story emerges.
Elizabeth West from Surrey, British Columbia, emailed her story to Global News after she heard about 92-year-old Dimitra Daskalos. Her daughter, Maria Daskalos, claims that her mother was discriminated against by the hospital because of her age and but she also says the hospital threatened her with a $19,000 hospital bill in order to get her mother out.
Dimitra was labelled a ‘bed-blocker,’ someone who takes up acute care beds in hospitals, because is too sick to go into a long-term care home, but cannot go home either.
Elizabeth, like Maria, also wants someone to be accountable. Her story though, is about the other side of the system, the long-term care facilities that are supposed to be the answer to the acute care bed crisis.
Elizabeth claims that as a result of neglect by her father’s nursing home, he died from a simple bladder infection. She says he was routinely given morphine for pain, but nothing to treat the infection.
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“My dad died from a bladder infection, a simple bladder infection,” said West. “Nobody would listen, nobody would pay attention, and nobody would do their job, that’s what the problem was.”
Elizabeth also says nurses taunted her ill father.
Christine Taylor with nursinghomeratings.ca says people use her site when they want to make sure they’re placing their loved ones into the best care possible.
Nancy White of the Canadian Institute for Health Information says that since long-term care homes vary in ratings, it’s always a plus when you measure the quality of care they provide.
“The evidence we have from over 1,000 nursing homes is that overall the quality of care is reasonable but there’s always room to improve,” said White.
If you have a similar story, you can call the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions Hospital Care Hotline Number 1-888-599-0770, email Maria Daskalos and Debbie Frederick at faircarecanada@gmail.com, or find them on Twitter; or email Global National’s Jennifer Tryon at jennifer.tryon@globalnews.ca, or send her a message on Twitter. For nursing home reviews, log onto nursinghomeratings.ca.
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