Latest news with #emergencyRoom
CTV News
9 hours ago
- Health
- CTV News
ER doctor sues Fraser Health over alleged unsafe working conditions, bullying and harassment
An emergency room physician who works at two Fraser Health hospitals has filed a lawsuit against her employer. In her statement of claim, Dr. Kaitlin Stockton accuses the health authority of creating unsafe conditions for patients and staff. 'I'm concerned that the standard of care is slipping,' Stockton told CTV News. 'I really truly believe that things have to change. I believe that the public deserves to know what's happening in their publicly funded hospitals. And I believe that health-care providers have a right to a safe and respectful work environment.' In the lawsuit, Stockton cites a number of security incidents in the emergency rooms at Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster and Eagle Ridge Hospital in Port Moody. Among the examples included are a situation when a man threatened staff with a machete at Eagle Ridge Hospital in January, and another incident when a doctor was bitten by a pit-bull brought into the ER by a patient. 'Ensuring a safe work environment where we are not threatened with weapons and violent, vicious dogs is not very hard to achieve,' Stockton said. The statement of claim also alleges hospital administration 'threatened to revoke Dr. Stockton's hospital privileges and to file a complaint against her with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia' because of a sign placed in the Eagle Ridge Hospital ER encouraging patients to contact their MLA if they have concerns about hospital conditions. 'I think that the public knows by now that we're dealing with a serious and dangerous situation,' said B.C. Conservative Party health critic Elenore Sturko. 'To see an emergency room doctor literally putting their career on the line to better our health-care should be applauded, not punished.' Citing the ongoing litigation, Fraser Health declined to comment on the lawsuit. Health Minister Josie Osborne told CTV News she could not comment on the specific allegations in the lawsuit. 'Speaking more generally, it is essential that healthcare workers across the province feel they can raise workplace concerns to their employer,' Osborne said. 'Hearing directly from frontline workers is fundamental as we work together to strengthen public health care in B.C.' Stockton still works for Fraser Health and said she's not sure if there will be professional repercussions for the lawsuit and speaking publicly. 'We've really tried hard to resolve this, and I've essentially been ignored and dismissed,' she said. 'This is about holding Fraser Health accountable for the workplace harassment that I experienced, and the horribly unsafe work conditions for our health-care providers, our front-line providers, which we desperately need right now in British Columbia.' None of the allegations in the lawsuit have been tested in court.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Shooting inside Evanston Hospital ER leaves security guard wounded, suspect in custody: police
The Brief A 28-year-old man fired multiple rounds inside Evanston Hospital's emergency room Thursday night, injuring a security officer, police said. The man had been transported to the hospital by a CARE Team after being found near a Taco Bell in downtown Evanston. Hospital staff and security restrained the man until police arrived; the ER remains on lockdown, but there is no ongoing threat. EVANSTON, Ill. - A shooting inside the emergency room at Evanston Hospital Thursday evening left a hospital security guard wounded and a man in custody, according to police. What we know Just before 7:30 p.m., members of Evanston's Crisis Alternative Response Evanston (CARE) Team encountered a 28-year-old Evanston man near a Taco Bell in the 1700 block of Sherman Avenue. Authorities said the man appeared to be experiencing a mental health crisis and agreed to be evaluated by paramedics, who transported him to Evanston Hospital. Once inside the emergency room, police said the man became agitated during the intake process, prompting hospital security to intervene. He then reportedly lunged toward his belongings, retrieved a weapon and fired several rounds inside the ER shortly before 8 p.m. A security officer was struck and sustained injuries that were not life-threatening, police said. Other hospital staff and security personnel were able to restrain the suspect until Evanston police arrived and took him into custody. What they're saying "A shooting occurred in the emergency room at Evanston Hospital this evening. The individual was quickly apprehended and taken into custody. There is no active threat. The safety of our patients and team members is our top priority," a spokesperson for Endeavor Health said. What's next The emergency room remains on lockdown as a large police presence continues in and around the facility. Authorities said there is no ongoing threat to the public. This is a developing story and we'll bring more updates as they become available.
CBS News
5 days ago
- Health
- CBS News
Cook Children's sees spike in gun injuries, urges parents to lock up firearms
With school out and more children spending time at home, officials at Cook Children's in Fort Worth are urging families to secure their firearms, as the hospital reports a rise in gun-related injuries involving kids. So far, in the first six months of 2025, Cook Children's has treated 40 firearm injuries. That's compared to 62 total for all last year. "That's a lot," said Eric Gonzalez, the program coordinator at Cook Children's. "And that's probably more than we've seen in the three years prior to that as well." Gonzalez said the increase likely stems from the number of firearms in homes, especially in Texas, and the fact that many of them aren't stored safely. "I think it's just because there are more guns out there every day," he said. "Guns are very prevalent here in our community, especially in Texas, and when we don't lock our guns up, we open that door." Doctors say it's not just handguns they're concerned about. BB guns, airsoft guns and even paintball guns have sent children to the emergency room. "I think what we hear all the time is, 'It will never happen to me,' or 'My child knows better,'" Gonzalez said. "But a child is still a child. They're always curious and getting into things." The injuries can be serious. Gonzalez said an airsoft gun can cause two to three inches of penetration, and a 9mm handgun can do far with the potential to be fatal or cause lifelong injuries. To help prevent that, Cook Children's encourages parents to follow the "Three T's": Talk to your kids Teach them about gun safety Take action by locking up firearms. In the emergency room, they hand out free cable locks to families as part of a push to turn moments of crisis into teachable ones. "Since we started this last year, we've given out close to 1,000 cable locks, just in the emergency department," Gonzalez said. He emphasized that the message isn't political, it's about protection. "At the end of the day, they're kids, and they're going to do what comes to their minds. Sometimes it's impulsive," he said. "So, if we lock them up, we really minimize that risk of them unintentionally hurting themselves." Gun Violence Awareness Day is Friday, June 6. Supporters across the country will wear orange to honor those impacted by gun violence and promote education around gun safety.
CBC
5 days ago
- Health
- CBC
Patients in N.B. face even longer waits in emergency rooms, report says
New Brunswick emergency room patients faced a typical wait of about four and a half hours in 2024-25, according to a new report by an independent public-policy think-tank. That median wait — the length of stay from arrival in the ER to discharge or admission to hospital — increased by nearly half an hour over the previous fiscal year and by nearly an hour over 2020-21, the report by the Montreal Economic Institute, known as MEI, says. "The situation is getting worse," said MEI economist Emmanuelle Faubert, who wrote the report, titled Canadians Are Waiting Too Long in the Emergency Room. "And that is a trend that we see all across Canada." Although the report indicates median waits last year ranged from two hours and 45 minutes in Newfoundland and Labrador to five hours and 23 minutes in Quebec, comparisons between provinces should be taken with a grain of salt, Faubert said, because of potential differences in the way they each collect and measure their data. Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan aren't included in the report because they did not provide the requested data, she said. WATCH | 'All across Canada, the situation is getting worse,' says report's author: Stuck in the ER? Wait times are up across N.B., report says 3 hours ago Duration 2:37 A report from the Montreal Economic Institute, a think tank in Quebec, found New Brunswick emergency room patients faced a typical wait of about four and a half hours in 2024-25. That's nearly an hour over 2020-21 wait times. The New Brunswick median wait is based on about 490,000 patient visits to Horizon and Vitalité emergency rooms and represents the middle value of the lengths of stay of all patients, meaning half waited longer, and half less, Faubert said. The median is considered a better statistical measure than the average, she said, because it's less affected by extreme cases and more likely to represent a typical visit. Faubert attributes the increase in waits to a shortage of primary-care providers and a lack of options to deal with minor emergencies. France model could help address 'missing middle' She encourages the New Brunswick government and other provinces to adopt a new model being used in France — immediate medical care centres. These independent clinics, which are generally privately owned by the health-care providers who operate them, specialize in handling non-life-threatening emergencies, such as bone fractures, wounds that require stitches, and infections, Faubert said. This helps reduce the pressure on ERs and fill the "missing middle" when it comes to urgent care. "They fall into a sphere where there's less bureaucracy, there's more place for innovation and less having to ask the government for anything anytime they want to implement a new strategy," she said. "That is what is currently happening in the public sector." Privatization 'a terrible recommendation' Dr. Fraser Mackay, an emergency physician in Saint John and chair of the rural, remote and small urban section of the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians, calls that "a terrible recommendation." "It's an ideological approach that promotes privatization of health care, siloing of health care, lack of accountability and basically taking us in the wrong direction." Mackay said there's no denying wait times are getting worse across New Brunswick and across the country, and are "terrible almost everywhere you go," particularly in bigger centres. He supports making that data public and making citizens aware. But the MEI report is "impressively off the mark" in terms of its conclusions and advice, he said. Mackay contends the main driver of emergency department waits "has nothing to do with" access to primary care or the acuity of the patients in the waiting room. "People with low acuity problems, I can see them really fast, but I need a place to see them … and available nursing staff," he said. The problem is ER patients who have been admitted but can't be moved to a hospital unit because no beds are available, so they're tying up ER space and resources, said Mackay. "It is an outflow problem … not an inflow problem." While the French model might sound good on paper, it doesn't recognize our finite pool of doctors and nurses either, Mackay said. "If you're staffing that clinic, where are you getting that staff from? Because we have trouble staffing our emergency departments as it is." Hybrid system best, author says Faubert could not immediately say what would be required to set up such centres in New Brunswick or how much it might cost, but did say patient services should still be covered by provincial health insurance. "Of course if we plan to turn this into a reality, we need to dig deeper into how it would work," she said. "But as a concept it has shown that it does work in France, and we think that if it can be adapted to the Canadian environment then it could be beneficial." Asked if she and MEI are pro-privatization, Faubert did not answer directly. "The thing is, we've been putting more money into health care, more and more every year, and what we're seeing is that it's not working," she said. "When we look elsewhere in the world, in some of the most efficient countries with the best health-care systems, essentially all of them are hybrid. "They do have a public system, but they also have private, independent providers, and they work together to make sure that the population gets access to the care that they need." Health department works to expand collaborative teams The Department of Health is still reviewing the report but does "recognize that some New Brunswickers have struggled to access services in a timely fashion at hospital emergency departments," said spokesperson Sean Hatchard. It's working with Horizon and Vitalité, who are responsible for day-to-day operations, to make improvements, including filling health-care positions as quickly as possible, he said in an emailed statement. It's also working to expand family health teams across the province to improve access to primary care and ease pressure on the ERs, Hatchard said. While Premier Susan Holt pledged in last year's election campaign to open 30 collaborative care clinics over four years, existing community care clinics that adopt the family health team model are now being counted among them. So far this year, teams have been announced in Fredericton, Lamèque, Tantramar, and Carleton North. Some other initiatives that divert patients away from ERs include NB Health Link, eVisitNB, and expanded roles for pharmacists, who can now prescribe for 12 common ailments, Hatchard said. Vitalité works on patient flow Improving access to primary health care and optimizing patient flow are two of Vitalité's strategic priorities, according to an unsigned emailed statement. Since 2022, Vitalité has established 26 local family health teams, enabling the regional health authority to care for nearly 32,000 additional patients and divert some non-urgent demand away from hospitals, the unidentified spokesperson said. Vitalité has also implemented a number of initiatives to expedite discharges and reduce occupancy rates, which in turn shorten emergency department stays by increasing access to acute care beds, according to the email. These include discharge planning upon admission and the integration of tracking tools. Horizon did not provide comments Tuesday. More New Brunswick numbers Horizon hospital patients faced the longest ER waits, with a median length of stay of four hours and 51 minutes, compared to three hours and 21 minutes at Vitalité hospitals, the MEI report says. Horizon's Moncton Hospital had the longest median ER visits in the province at seven hours and 22 minutes, followed by the Saint John Regional Hospital at six hours and 37 minutes, and the Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital at six hours and 25 minutes. The Sussex Health Centre, which lost its overnight ER services in 2022, was a clear outlier, with a median wait of only 18 minutes, according to the report. Among Vitalité hospitals, Hôtel-Dieu Saint-Joseph de Saint-Quentin patients had the shortest median wait, at one hour and thirty-five minutes, while patients at the Dr. Georges-L.-Dumont University Hospital Centre in Moncton had the longest at five hours and 54 minutes.
CBC
6 days ago
- Business
- CBC
Stuck in the ER? Wait times are up across N.B., report says
A report from the Montreal Economic Institute, a think tank in Quebec, found New Brunswick emergency room patients faced a typical wait of about four and a half hours in 2024-25. That's nearly an hour over 2020-21 wait times.
