BC Government and Health Authorities DO NOT PROTECT anyone’s rights!
The BC Government are NOT advocates for the elderly - nor do
they follow their own laws, and to quote one of my mom’s favorite sayings,
“actions speak louder than words”. Well
I’ve been witness to Government “actions”.
I had made every effort to educate myself on all rules,
regulations, and laws pertaining to long term care in my province. These are all available via the Government
of BC website, and I studied them at great length.
I thought that someone within our government would surely
come forward and stop what was transpiring at the care home my mom resided in. Someone would make sure that the elderly would
not be subjected to these kinds of treatments, and I assumed that elected
government officials would make sure that the laws were followed. But I was very wrong.
In June of 2009, after much consideration and frustration, I
made a complaint to the Licensing branch of Fraser Health in regards to the
rules and regulations of long term care and the violations to these rules at
the care home my mom was in. I had no idea at the time there was a “camaraderie”
with the Administrator of the care home.
In August of 2009, I made numerous calls to senior advocate
associations in regards to my frustration with the care home and with the
response that I was getting from Licensing .
All the senior advocates I had correspondence with were appalled at what
was transpiring and all stated that I should be notifying the Ombudsman’s
office.
In September of 2009 I sent an e-mail to Ida Chong whose BC ministry
portfolio included seniors’ issues. I
cc’d the letter to Kevin Falcon, the then BC minister of Health, Adrian Dix,
and Mike Farnsworth (health critic) of the opposition party. All this was in an urgent attempt to stop the
insanity that was taking place within the nursing home, spear headed by the Administrator, and an
employee of Residential Services branch of Fraser Health. I got a response from Ida Chong s office in
December 2009 (three months later) that stated I should take my complaint to
the Quality Care Office (just another useless appendage of the government) I had already learned a lesson from the
“Licensing” office. No one else responded.
On September 18, 2009, I sent a letter to the Ombudsman’s
office with my complaint. Even though they have reiterated my complaints in
their “The Best Of Care”, I’m still
waiting for a conclusion to our case. There was an urgency on my part,
as my mom was suffering at the hands of certain employees of Fraser Health. I had hoped they would stop the abuse. The urgency is gone as she died in November,
2010, as a result of the abuse that took place.
In March of 2010, on advice of senior advocates, I contacted
my mom’s MLA’s office. I thought surely
this office would take the issues seriously!
Laws were being broken. This MLA,
Mike de Jong, was also Attorney General and Solicitor General at the time. Naively, I thought that he would make sure
laws would be upheld. But, the laws that
were being broken were happening within his riding.....well read between the
lines here.
I contacted the Prime Minister’s Office. The response was that it was a Provincial
Health matter. This is ABSURD! It’s a national matter as it goes directly to
our Constitutional Rights.
I contacted Health Canada in regards to the anti-psychotic
drugs, as they had already sent three warnings out to doctors regarding the
dangers of these drugs. I got no
response.
I contacted the College of Physicians and Surgeons (another
useless appendage). I found out they are
only there to protect doctors. They are
unconcerned that doctors break their code of ethics or the laws.
In August 2010, I contacted the College of Pharmacists regarding
illegal activities between the
pharmacy and the care home, unrecorded adverse reactions to drugs etc. I’m still waiting for an official response.
It’s been two years and counting!
August 2012 I have had to take the case to the Health
Professions Review Board, yet another Government appendage. This is because of the numerous unbelievable
mistakes that the College of Physicians and Surgeons made. After reading their Disposition on the case
you felt like you’d fallen down the rabbit hole! Any bets on the outcome of this one! Will the government actually go against its
own policies in favor of the College? And
how long will it take them to make the decision.
This was all in an effort to stop abusive and illegal
actions that were harming my mother. It
was urgent as every day that went
by my mom was being harmed more.
The point to all of this rant is? Our Government really doesn’t care about seniors;
they don’t follow their own rules, regulations or laws, nor the Canadian
Charter of Rights. They’ll tell you to protect your rights with a
Representation Agreement and then they’ll make a loop-hole for that too!
It doesn’t matter
which “office” they send you to next, because they all work together and NOT
for the good of the citizens that pay their wages! Each of the “Offices” is in cahoots with the
other so there is no independent assessments of the situation. And, as in our case, ONE bad apple can taint
the whole barrel!
To date no one has been held responsible for the cruel,
torturous and fatal treatment of my mom.
It would seem that the Health authorities and all those working within
them are above the law. There
should have been an inquiry into Fraser Health long term care Licensing Branch
and also into the illegal actions of Fraser Health Residential Services. There has been nothing.
My mom was a victim of revenge, and physical, mental and
sexual abuse. Who allowed all this to happen?
Who protected my mom’s rights? Who
will protect your rights?
