Members of an Edmonton family claim a long-term care facility evicted their 80-year-old mother and dumped her unceremoniously at a local hospital's emergency ward without notifying them.
Grace Denyer, who suffers from dementia, was recently kicked out of the Tranquility Care home in Edmonton, her family says, after they raised concerns about an unexpected price increase.
Denyer had moved into the home only a few days earlier, when the family signed a monthly rent contract for roughly $3,500.
But the facility soon informed them they were raising the price to $5,000 per month because Denyer needed more care than the home could provide at the original price.
When the family expressed shock at the sudden price increase and told the facility to stick to the original terms, Denyer was promptly kicked out, said her daughter Beth Podgurny.
"(They) called an ambulance, I guess, and had her evicted by ambulance to the hospital. And we weren't notified until after the fact," Podgurny told reporters at a news conference.
However, the facility claims the ambulance was called because Denyer was hemorrhaging at the time and needed medical attention.
Karen Cazemier, the owner of the facility, acknowledged that a price increase was put into place.
"Mrs. Denyer's needs were such that we either needed to hire an additional staff for her one-on-one care needs...or we would need to come up with a different solution," Cazemier told CTV Edmonton.
Podgurny says her mother suffers from dementia, and is unable to walk or feed herself, but is in stable condition.
She experienced a stroke in 2011 while in a public care facility, prompting the family to look into private care options.
The family is now considering legal action and is calling on the province to launch an inquiry into elder care in Alberta.
With files from CTV Edmonton
