Nova Scotia Family Leaves Grandmother in ER for a Week During Florida Trip

By Aly Thomson
Metro News, Canada

HALIFAX — An elderly woman spent more than a week in a Halifax emergency room because her family refused to take her home, according to the chief of Nova Scotia's largest ER.

Dr. Samuel Campbell said the woman was not ill, but her grandchildren were looking after her and felt they could no longer cope with her mild dementia.

Campbell said Halifax Infirmary emergency room staff contacted her next of kin — the woman's children, who were in Florida at the time — but they became angry that she couldn't stay in emergency and refused to take her home.

The staff were threatened with legal action or with bringing the issue to the media.

"The family was just saying, 'We refuse to take her home. She's your problem. Do something'," said Campbell in an interview on Thursday. "Nurses are crying and social workers are desperate."

The woman stayed at the hospital for 215 hours, or almost nine days, before being discharged Thursday, said Campbell.

"That's 60 patients, 60 sick patients that basically did not get care while she was here because she was using up the space that they paid their tax dollars to provide for their emergency care," said Campbell, adding that another elderly person was in the emergency room for more than four days.

Such situations are becoming all too common in the region's emergency rooms, said Campbell: Elderly people who are not acutely ill are clogging the system and preventing others from receiving emergency care.

Read more at: www.metronews.ca


Voices for the Unborn is an e-publication dedicated to informing and educating the public on pro-life and pro-family issues. To read our Mission Statement, use this link.  You can also follow us on Facebook, Google, and Pinterest.  Help spread the word by sharing our articles on your favorite social networks.