A Surrey woman is still looking for answers months after her mom collapsed in the parking lot at Peace Arch Hospital, right after being discharged from the ER. Two days later, her mom would be dead. The daughter, Teresa Johnson, believes the death of her mom is the tragic result of a health-care system that is failing. She said on Jan. 29, she took her mom, Sharon Tate, to the Peace Arch emergency department because of dizziness, shortness of breath and severely fluctuating blood pressure. “We waited there in the ER for 10.5 hours. And we saw the doctor…they just kind of chalked it up to her medication change,” said Johnson. She said her 70-year-old mom was discharged. But she wouldn’t get far. “We got outside the doors and that’s when she collapsed. She had multiple heart attacks, right there, outside the doors of the hospital,” Johnson recalled, saying she quickly ran back inside the hospital to get help. “They told me that I had to bring her back in and we had to wait at the triage again, and get triaged again, and I said, ‘No, that is not happening,’” explained Johnson. Once back in the ER, Tate was reassessed. “She coded. They had to call Code Blue. They tried to resuscitate her in the trauma room. It wasn’t successful,” said Johnson. Her mom was eventually transferred to Royal Columbian Hospital where she would die on Jan. 31. “Our biggest question was, ‘Why did she get discharged if all of this happened?’” But there would be more questions to follow. Johnson said she had specifically asked that her mom, who had a stroke about 12 years prior, be given a test to check for blood clotting. She believes the test was not done until after her mom returned to the hospital, and that had it been done earlier, it would have made a difference. Wanting answers, and as the executor of her mom’s estate, Johnson asked Fraser Health for a copy of her mom’s health-care records. She said the health authority has refused. Fraser Health said in a general statement that privacy legislation determines what is able to be released. “All requests for records of deceased persons are assessed on a case-by-case basis. We may be unable to disclose some or all of a record,” the statement reads. Johnson said the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of B.C. is now looking into her case. She has also asked for a review by the provincial Patient Care Quality Review Board, but has been told it will take at least two years. The Ministry of Health also wouldn’t speak to the specific case, but said the board is experiencing “high volumes.” “The length of a review depends on several factors, including the complexity of the concerns,” reads the ministry statement. Said Johnson, “It’s ridiculous. I mean, two years to get a simple review of my mom’s care, that is crazy to me.” Johnson believes there was just one doctor working in the emergency department at Peace Arch the night her mom was there. In a statement, Anne Brownlee, interim executive director at Peace Arch Hospital, said she would not be speaking to the specific case, but that, “It is common for our smaller hospitals to have one emergency department physician providing care in the early morning, when patient volumes are lowest, supported by experienced emergency nurses and other dedicated staff.” She also said that, “when a person presents to hospital, the care team assesses them based on the symptoms they present with to determine the tests and treatment they may need. If the person’s health needs change, the care team will re-assess them to determine what additional care and supports they may require.” Johnson believes that doctors and nurses are too overworked. “They’re spread so thin everywhere,” she said. North Island MLA and Conservative heath critic Anna Kindy said that while she also can’t speak to the specific case either, “What I can say is around the province, many patients going to emergency are waiting hours and because emergency are often run under staff or way over capacity, patients are falling through the cracks.” As for Johnson, she said the loss of her mom has left a huge gap in their family. “She just was a loving person. Everybody loved my mom,” she said, vowing to keep fighting until she gets answers. “I’m a fighter like my mom was and I’m not going to back down.”
