Dr. Jon Gerrard, leader of the Manitoba Liberal Party, says that Premier Greg Selinger "must take immediate action" and commit to a review of the standard of health care being delivered within the Burntwood Regional Health Authority (BRHA).
Gerrard challenged Selinger to launch the inquiry on May 18, citing a shortage of surgeons and pediatricians and a number of individual cases that have included misdiagnoses and service delays.
Michelle Nyhof, communications officer for the Manitoba Liberal caucus, sent out a list of seven key issues surrounding the BRHA that Gerrard is basing his appeal for an inquiry on.
The first is the story of Sharon McIvor, a woman who is living with Chiari I malformation in the brain, which is described as a serious neurological condition. The Liberals say McIvor was misdiagnosed for 17 months with an ear infection and middle ear disease, which they say resulted in her condition worsening and possibly becoming life threatening. Nyhof's list says the woman was misdiagnosed 21 times by 13 different doctors and could not obtain a family physician.
The second case focuses on Joan Saunders, who had four heart attacks and, according to the Liberal party, did not receive a referral for an angiogram until after her fourth heart attack. Nyhof says she was so upset by the treatment she received at the BRHA that she signed herself out of the hospital and has since died of what is speculated as a fifth heart attack.
The third case is about Ann Kaciulis, a woman who claims she was made to feel dirty and "like a pig" by a physician working for the BRHA. She also claims she was not able to get the care she needed until she went to a physician in Winnipeg.
Felicia Stone is a mother whose child had a hemangioma - a benign tumor of the cells that line the blood vessels - that got progressively larger. According to Nyhof's list, Stone had to wait six and a half months to see a pediatrician, during which time her child bled with every bowel movement.
The fifth point on the list, and the last that tells the story of an individual, concerns Eliza Bighety, as woman from Leaf Rapids whose husband has been in the hospital at Lynn Lake for two years. The Manitoba Liberals claim that Bighety would like to take her husband home but is not allowed to. She also claims that she had her appointments in Winnipeg cancelled when she spoke to a local reporter about her problems with the BRHA.
The two final concerns outlined in the list of "issues in the BRHA" that the Manitoba Liberal Party released include the fact that they say there is no pediatrician in Thompson and there hasn't been for "more than a year"; meaning 20,000 children are without the care of a regular doctor, with wait times for pediatric patients three to six months and no pediatric surgeon.
The final claim says there is currently no permanent surgeon working in Thompson.
Gerrard says he has grave concerns about the quality of health care being delivered to Northern Manitoba's 46,000 people who fall within the region of the BRHA.
"The chronic shortage of surgeons and pediatricians is alarming and needs to be investigated. The NDP have allowed two levels of health care to develop in Manitoba. There is one standard for the North and a better standard for southern Manitoba. We have a two-tiered system and people in the North are suffering because of it."
Blake Ellis, communications co-ordinator with the BRHA, released a statement to the Thompson Citizen via e-mail from the health care authority regarding the claims the Manitoba Liberal Party had made.
The e-mail says that in accordance with the Personal Health Information Act, the BRHA can't disclose any personal health information about an individual, and is therefore "unable to reply to the specific questions that have been raised" about individuals.
"What we can tell you is that BRHA can assure that anyone who has brought their concern forward, that it is working to resolve the health care concern identified," the e-mail states.
The e-mail goes on to say that the BRHA is unable to review complaints that it does not receive through the Continuous Quality Improvement and Risk Management manager. Ellis' e-mail states that patients are encouraged to send any complaints they may have to Vivian Salmon, the BRHA's Continuous Quality Improvement and Risk Management manager. Comments can also be left on the AYAMI patient toll-free line at 1-888-442-9264 or by e-mail at [email protected].
At the end of the e-mail the BRHA states that the organization has a pediatrician and a surgeon "24 hours a day, 365 days a year on site in Thompson" to respond to "urgent and emergent" cases and a nurse practitioner who specializes in pediatrics. Another nurse practitioner has been recruited to join the BRHA who specializes in pediatrics, and the BRHA has also recruited a pediatrician who is currently in the assessment process. Offers of employment have also been made to a surgeon and pediatrician.
