A Prince George mom has filed a complaint with Northern Health after her adult son suffering from a mental health crisis was kept in the emergency ward at University Hospital of Northern B.C. for more than five days with no treatment.
“He was there for five nights and on Saturday morning he was texting me and he was still in the hallway, he hadn’t had a shower and the conditions were absolutely deplorable,” Cathy said about her son that will be referred to as Z. “He hadn’t brushed his teeth, hadn’t been given a clean gown, clean sheet or a clean pillow. He was literally stuck in the hallway in emergency – he never ever made it to the psych ward. It was horrific.”
Z was involuntarily admitted on a psychiatric hold recently as he suffers from manic depression and anxiety. In the past, he has been placed on suicide watch.
When Cathy heard what was happening from her son, she called the hospital on Saturday morning to address her concerns.
“They immediately took him for a shower and it is absolutely worse than prison,” Cathy said. “The curtain doesn’t reach the floor, the shower head falls off the wall, they have to put blankets around the bottom of the shower because it floods underneath the door. I am sure prisoners get treated better than the patients at the hospital.”
Cathy went to the hospital after work on Saturday to see if she could advocate for her son.
“They wouldn’t let me take him for a walk, he hadn’t seen the light of day in five days,” Cathy explained. “This is a mental health issue and the entire treatment was not conducive to improving mental health at all. In fact, I think it made it worse. It was absolutely horrendous.”
There’s not enough staff and there’s not enough beds, she added.
“We service a huge area and the facility is inadequate,” Cathy said. “He would’ve been better off in prison.”
Cathy spent Saturday night with Z in the emergency department hallway.
“They made no accommodation for me to be there with my son except for a chair they ended up taking away,” Cathy said. “So finally on the 12-hour mark on Sunday morning I asked to speak to someone and I told them I hadn’t spoken to anyone – no doctor – and I wanted to know what was going on at this point. So they sent over a charge nurse and he basically told me there was nothing he could do and he actually agreed with me that prisoners get treated better.”
The idea behind the hold for people in a mental health crisis under the Mental Health act is to provide help.
“The whole experience was not conducive to his mental health at all,” Cathy said. “You know laying in your own filth for five days is not conducive to mental health. If they’re going to hold you against your will in order to take care of you they should be taking care of you and they’re just not.”
Cathy said she is dumbfounded by the lack of care.
When Z was admitted to the hospital he was handed a piece of paper to read about his rights under the Mental Health Care Act and of course, in mental health distress, Z didn’t read it.
“So I read it and according to the piece of paper they were not fulfilling their obligations,” Cathy said. “It’s simply unacceptable.”
Cathy said she’s been advocating for the last five years for Z to get treatment for his mental health issues.
“We have spent countless nights at the hospital waiting for help from a mental health professional and the response is always they’re not available, so it leaves you with nothing,” Cathy said. “It leaves you with no where to turn and Northern Health does not provide enough mental health care and counselors are expensive. Mental health is part of health care and should be provided to those in need and I don’t think Northern Health is holding up their end of the bargain.”
Cathy said she is often overwhelmed with the magnitude of the situation because she is not a mental health professional.
“Parents are not qualified to deal with this,” Cathy said.
Since he wasn’t getting treatment at the hospital, she finally gave up after five days and took Z home Sunday afternoon.
“I’m hoping I don’t have to take him back to emergency, because I don’t feel he gets any care there,” Cathy said. “Nothing changes and I just thought somebody has to say something and maybe then there will be change.”
Cathy has taken further action and written letters and filed a complaint.
“Because I know we’re not the only ones,” Cathy said. “And when you’re in mental distress you’re not able to advocate for yourself. Somebody has to do it."
