A B.C. mother said her three-year-old son was diagnosed with a cold at Ridge Meadows Hospital only to find out a day later that he had pneumonia.
Amanda Ouvrard blames the possible misdiagnosis on overcrowding and shudders to think about what could have happened.
“I can’t imagine the situation that I would be facing right now,” she said. “I could be planning a funeral for my son.”
Ouvrard said her son Landon was lethargic with a temperature spiking at over 39 C.
She said her family doctor’s office told her to take Landon straight to the emergency room.
The ER staff, according to Ouvrard, had a different perspective.
“It felt like they were trying to shoo me away and send me home,” she said.
“They said, ‘We don’t understand why you’re here.’”
Ouvrard said she was told her son was likely suffering from a common cold, which could be treated at home with Tylenol and Advil.
The next morning, their family doctor ordered chest X-rays and prescribed antibiotics. Landon had pneumonia.
Ouvrard’s story comes on the heels of the death of three-year-old Nimrat Gill, who was first sent home from Abbotsford Regional Hospital last month only to be rushed back the next morning. Reports suggest Gill succumbed to pneumonia and septic shock leading to cardiac arrest.
Fraser Health has launched a review of Gill’s case.
Ouvrard believes the health authority has a lot to answer for.
“They have lost hope in wanting to care for people who actually need help and I think that has a lot to do with Fraser Health,” she said.
“The best test we have in emergency medicine is time and that’s why we encourage every patient to come back if they’re getting worse,” Neil Barclay, emergency medicine regional director for Fraser Health, said.
NDP health critic Judy Darcy said such stories stem from a systemic problem that leaves Fraser Health ERs overcrowded and understaffed.
“It is out of control and that’s putting patient care at risk,” she said.
Health Minister Terry Lake echoed Premier Christy Clark’s line of attributing the issue of overcrowded emergency rooms to a bad flu season, but said action is being taken.
“I’ve had two conversations with the CEO of Fraser Health over the weekend,” Lake said. “We’re putting together an action plan.”
Ouvrard said the only action that helped her son was trusting her maternal instinct.
– With files from John Hua and Jill Slattery
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