The chief of staff at Brampton’s criticized Civic Hospital has now officially apologized to the 72-year-old Amar Kaur Brar, whose wrong leg got cut by a surgeon, her family says.
The doctor, who sliced open Amar Kaur Brar’s right leg when he should have cut into her left, has also expressed his regret.
The apologies came after the family filed a formal complaint with the Brampton Civic Hospital ombudsman over the incident.
Her 21-year-old granddaughter Kanwaljot Brar said it has left her formerly agile grandmother in serious pain and handicapped as she now has to recover from incisions on both legs, on top of a broken bone.
“Before the complaint they didn’t apologize. Now they have apologized,” she said. “They do the mistake and after they say sorry. That’s not good.”
A spokesperson at Brampton Civic was unable to confirm yesterday whether these verbal regrets were issued.
Despite requesting a new physician, Amar Kaur Brar was today back under the care of the surgeon who performed the procedure.
"The reduced holiday staffing levels at Brampton Civic made it impossible to have another doctor on the job," Kanwaljot Brar said.
“He’s taking care of her, but after the vacation is over another doctor will be given to her,”
The alleged mistake is the latest in a string of controversies that put Brampton Civic under fire since it opened its doors amid much fanfare last October.
Two patients have died and their families believe it was due to complications caused by long waits for proper care.
In November, Harnek Sindu, 52, perished of pancreatitis 10 days after waiting 12 hours for a bed when he presented with abdominal pain and only last month it was Amerjit Narwal, 42, who succumbed to a stroke.
Calling the two deaths “unacceptable,” Health Minister George Smitherman last week appointed a supervisor to assume control of William Osler Health Centre, the hospital network responsible for Brampton Civic.
A citizen’s group, billing itself as Bramptonians for Better Health Care, held a thousand-person protest last month and is now organizing a petition calling for more funding, better staffing levels and the opening of more beds at a hospital serving one of Canada’s fastest growing communities.
Group spokesman Rajinder Saini, who is also editor of Parvasi Weekly, called the latest incident “unbelievable.”
“It’s tragic, there is outrage in the community. They are losing confidence in the hospital.”
While the apologies were appreciated, Ms. Brar said they come as cold comfort to her grandmother, who arrived in Canada from India last summer and now remains hospitalized.
“She just started crying,” reported her granddaughter.
Mrs. Kaur Brar slipped and fell on the stairs on Christmas day, fracturing her left leg.
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Thursday, January 3, 2008
Brampton Civic Hospital apologizes for cutting in wrong leg
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Supervisor appointed in Brampton Civic Hospital
Ken White, former CEO at Trillium Health Centre in Mississauga, will at least spend the next six to nine months, coming up with an action plan to improve communication between the hospital and the community, ensure proper staffing and reduce wait times in the emergency ward.
Amid reports that a patient had the wrong leg operated on at Brampton Civic, Ontario's first public-private hospital, Health Minister George Smitherman has named the supervisor who will look into problems at the new facility.
"People in the community should expect more answers to the questions raised ... What we see here is evidence of the need to do better," Smitherman told a press conference at the Brampton site of the William Osler Health Centre yesterday.
Smitherman took the rare step of appointing a supervisor to restore public confidence in Brampton Civic after the deaths of Harnek Sidhu, 52, of pancreatitis and Amarjit Narwal, 42, of a stroke, sparked a huge community protest in early December.
Then, on Christmas Day, 72-year-old Amar Kaur Brar complained doctors cut open her right leg by mistake when she went to hospital for surgery on her fractured left leg.
Although he had been an investigator at Brampton Civic for about a year, helping it to ramp up to its opening on October 28th, White said he was "not at all familiar" with concerns raised by the community about a shortage of staff, unduly long waits in emergency and a lack of beds.
"It's very sad there's all kinds of these misadventures in health care happening across Canada," White told reporters in an interview after the press conference.
Smitherman blamed "mischief makers" and alluded to persistent negative media reports about problems at the hospital since it opened as being a factor in attracting staff to work at the centre.
Some of those reports have been "pretty far off the mark," he said.
Brampton Civic, which replaced Peel Memorial Hospital, "overnight gained 100 beds, which is unheard of in health care" today, said Smitherman.
However, he did acknowledge staffing challenges.
Source: The Star
This is a video from CBC News concerning the appointment of Ken White
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Sunday, December 30, 2007
Brampton Civic Hospital operates on wrong leg
A Brampton family is frustrated after their 72-year-old grandmother had the wrong leg cut open during Christmas Day surgery at the city's new hospital.
But residents demanding better hospital care say the alleged medical mistake is one more in a long list of complaints they've heard since the Brampton Civic Hospital opened last October 28th.
Amar Kaur Brar, 72, fractured her thigh bone when she slipped from the stairs at the family's Brampton home, her granddaughter Kanwaljot Brar, 21, told The Sun yesterday.
"She just missed one stair and fell down," Brar said.
The family took her to the emergency room at Brampton Civic where doctors told them her left leg was broken and surgery was needed.
"In the operating room, doctors cut Amar's right leg open," Brar said, adding the cut ran almost the entire length of her grandmother's thigh.
When they realized that the bone in Amar's right leg was okay, they stitched her up and performed surgery on her left leg, she said.
"She's in so much pain now," Brar said. "She can't move either leg ... she can't move at all."
Doctors told the family after surgery that they opened the wrong leg, she said.
Along with the pain, Amar has been confused and disoriented since the operation.
She remains in the hospital with her son Gurcharan Singh Brar at her side.
"We don't know what to do now for her," Brar said.
The issue is further complicated because Amar arrived in Canada from India in August and wasn't issued a health card until Thursday.
Brar said the family isn't certain if they will have to pay for the hospital care up to that point.
This week's incident comes a few weeks after 1,000 residents took to the streets protesting conditions at the hospital, where they claim patients wait up to 12 hours in the emergency room only to deal with understaffed and insensitive health-care workers.
In response to inquiries about Amar's case yesterday, the hospital issued a statement.
"William Osler Health Centre's top priority is the well-being and safety of our patients and staff," the statement reads.
The centre is made up of Brampton, Peel and Etobicoke hospitals.
In order to protect patient privacy, the hospital said it could not comment on the specific case. "We cannot release any information about a patient or any information about the care provided to a patient without his or her written consent," the release states.
The hospital does have a quality of care committee, a patient incident reporting system and a patient safety committee in place to respond if an incident occurs.
"We're following all of our processes with regard to this case," hospital communications director Gillian Williams McClean said.
Rajinder Saini of Bramptonians for Better Health Care said the incident is another in a long list of complaints the group has heard about the hospital.
"Things are not good at this new facility," Saini said.
"They use excuses like shortages of funds and staff." He called operating on the wrong leg an 'unbelievable' mistake."
"She had swelling on the broken leg, they had X-rays, they had everything," Saini said.
Media attention focused on the hospital in November when Brampton resident Harnek Sidhu, 52, allegedly waited 12 hours for a bed before he died of pancreatitis 10 days later.
Following the protests in early December, the province stepped in and appointed a hospital supervisor.
Amid the problems at the new hospital the future of the old hospital, Peel Memorial, remains uncertain.
Protesters have maintained the fast-growing city needs both hospitals to serve the burgeoning population.
A plan for the old site, that has been temporarily closed when the new hospital opened, is being developed.
Two public meetings, one January 9th at the Pearson Convention Centre and January 17th at Courtyard by Marriott on Biscayne Court, have been scheduled.
Both meetings start at 7:30 p.m.
Source: Toronto Sun
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Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Brampton Civic hospital has cost $340 million more than planned
William Osler Health Centre's CEO Bob Richards and Hilary Short, head of the Ontario Hospital Association, have publicly stated that the public-private partnership (P3) funding model used to construct the Brampton Civic Hospital has no impact on patient care.
Government documents detailing this deal, only obtained after a four-year court battle, show otherwise.
These documents revealed that this hospital has cost $340 million more because of the P3 financial model.
That much money could have built another badly needed new hospital in the city would have
provided all of the promised 608 beds in the new hospital.
"The people of Brampton know that they are not getting adequate health care, and they also know that our P3 hospital has cost more and delivered less," said Dora Jeffries, Chair of Ontario Health, who wrote a letter to the The Star.
Although she is not from the Asian community herself, she did attend the weekend rally in Brampton protesting the inadequate health-care services in the city.
Many residents of Brampton from all communities have been deeply concerned about this problem for several years.
"We have many questions and we are not getting straight answers. Why do we have less than one hospital bed per 1,000 people in Brampton, while the rest of Canada has nearly three beds per 1,000? Why did our hospital cost more than $880 million, and promise 608 beds and only deliver 479?"
The protest last weekend was also about people, mainly Indo-Canadians, demanding Health Minister George Smitherman to reopen Peel Memorial Hospital. Residents have complained about the service they have received at Brampton Civic Hospital, Peel Memorial's replacement.
Peel Memorial is slated to be renovated and reopened in about two years. However, the community asked at the rally that the opening date be moved up.
The rally was originally meant to end up at Brampton Civic but there was a concern the disruption could compromise patients' health care.Star, CTV
Editor's opinion:
"Isn't it time for some real CEO's, coming from real businesses, where they are really held accountable for spendings, to take over the steering wheel from the Bob Richards' in health care?"
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