‘Mistakes made,’ patient says

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This article was published 14/11/2017 (2895 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Garden Hill First Nation resident Melodie Harper told a stunned news conference Monday she’s dying in hospital because of alleged surgical mistakes no one will admit to.

Breaking down and weeping, Vernon Harper said he can’t believe nothing can be done for his 38-year-old wife, who is starving because she can no longer digest food.

“How do you prepare yourself when you’re told your spouse is going to die? How do you tell a child her mother is dying?” he said. The couple have a six-year-old daughter.

Liberal MLA Judy Klassen, who, like Melodie Harper, was born in St. Theresa Point First Nation, said Harper’s story is not unusual — but the Harpers and area chiefs are the first people she’s persuaded to come forward and tell their stories.

“It’s really scary to be Indigenous and need medical help in Manitoba,” Klassen said. “Garden Hill has had three deaths from these simple procedures.”

Harper said she is now in palliative care in the Grace Hospital, allowed to attend the Winnipeg news conference on a three-hour pass Monday. She said she has been diagnosed with gastroparesis, which some medical professionals have attributed to diabetes.

Harper said she was in Winnipeg in December 2016, when she was hit by pain and later admitted to St. Boniface General Hospital. She had emergency gallbladder surgery, and returned to the hospital in January 2017 for more surgery.

“There were mistakes made — a lot of complications arose from the surgery,” she alleged Monday. “I had a collapsed right lung — they punctured it.”

Harper also alleged a gallstone was left behind when her gallbladder was removed, and her pancreas was subsequently damaged. She has been in hospital since May, and at the Grace since June.

St. Theresa Point Chief David McDougall told reporters he and Garden Hill Chief Dino Flett joined the Harpers and their relatives Monday to tell as many people as possible that patients are not just numbers and cases. (McDougall is Melodie Harper’s uncle.)

“We respect the work being done by health-care professionals in the province,” he said, echoing he can’t believe nothing can be done for Harper.

“My God, we’re in the 21st century. How can they not fix mistakes in the abdominal system?” asked McDougall, who said his niece is starving to death. “There’s got to be a medical procedure in this day and age that can help her. We may have no choice but to take my niece to another jurisdiction.”

The elders have advised forgiving and forgetting — but forgetting won’t help others avoid the same fate, McDougall said.

He said the First Nations in the Island Lakes area are planning legal action, but one lawyer allegedly told them he is a patient of the surgeon who treated Harper, and another golfs with that surgeon.

“It’s a who’s who of the province that controls everything. No one dares shake that tree,” McDougall said.

“We have to start asking questions now. People are starting to come forward now on the mistakes these medical people made,” Flett added.

An aide to Manitoba Health Minister Kelvin Goertzen said Monday: “Our thoughts are with Mrs. Harper and her family, during what must be a very challenging time. While we are unable to comment on a patient’s medical history, the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority has processes in place to ensure patient concerns are investigated and addressed to ensure safe, quality care.”

The WRHA released a statement in which it pointed out officials cannot discuss details about individual patients’ situations: “The region can’t comment on the details of Ms. Harper’s care, although we’ve connected with the site to ensure clinical and administrative staff are working with her and that patient relations has connected with Ms. Harper. If she has specific concerns about her surgery, the College of Physicians and Surgeons has a process, as well.”

Klassen said the Harpers want an apology.

Manitoba law allows the medical system to do so without admitting liability, she said.

“We want her home and we want her safe.”

Klassen said she lives by the elders’ teachings to forgive and forget, but is urging others to come forward and tell their stories, so Indigenous people can have better health care.

“It’s tragic. Our nursing stations are referred to as ‘Tylenol clinics’” because that’s about all they can offer, Klassen said.

“We need changes in our communities.”

nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca