A Fort St. John mother is furious with the care her son received at the Fort St. John Hospital at the beginning of May.
Melanie Jansen said she took her 15-year-old son to the emergency room after he fell off his bike and was misdiagnosed not once, but twice.
Jansen said that after two separate visits to the Fort St. John Hospital, where she was forced to wait nearly 10 hours, doctors ignored direct orders from an orthopedic surgeon and that caused further damage to her son’s knee.
“That is now is a heavy, heavy thing that my son has to pay the price for,” said Jansen
After a crashing landing his bike on a jump, Melanie’s son Hudson said, “mom, it’s my knee, I can’t move it.”
Melanie took Hudson to emergency room at the hospital and despite being in a lot of pain, he was forced to wait almost five hours before he was able to see a doctor.
An x-ray was taken of Hudson’s knee. After looking at the x-ray, a doctor suggested some crutches, a tensor bandage and some Tylenol. Melanie said, it was a nurse that suggested to the doctor that Hudson needed more than just regular Tylenol, so he was sent home with a stronger pain reliever.
The next day the same doctor called Melanie and said they had reviewed Hudson’s x-rays. The physician said that Hudson needed to go back to emergency immediately and get a splint for his leg.
Melanie asked the doctor, “Am I going to have to wait all day there?” The doctor assured her that they would not have to wait and that the staff at the ER would be notified they were coming back in.
Hudson and Melanie arrived at the hospital at 1:00pm. But despite assurances, they were told they would have to wait for a room. An hour and a half later, they were taken to a room and were seen by a different doctor than from the night before.
The doctor told Hudson he had a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and the bone had move 6 to 7 millimetres. The injury occurs when the ACL is either stretched, partially torn, or completely torn.
Melanie said, “The doctor told me he was going to consult with the orthopedic surgeon who was working at the time in Dawson Creek.” A half an hour later, they were kicked out of the room because ‘someone else needed it.’
“They still didn’t put a splint on my son’s knee,” said Jansen.
After a five and a half hour wait, Melanie was told that Dr Groohi, the orthopedic surgeon was still busy in Dawson Creek and wouldn’t be able to make it. “We were sent home with no care plan, no instructions, no splint, nothing,” said Jansen.
“Hudson was extremely uncomfortable at that point, he was in a lot of pain,” said Jansen.
The next day Hudson was forced to stay home from school because of the pain. Staff from the orthopedic surgeon’s office in Dawson Creek called Jansen and made an appointment to see Hudson. But the appointment was for 8 days after his initial accident.
Melanie and Hudson had to drive to Dawson Creek to see Dr Groohi. Hudson was x-rayed for a second time and was told the bone was broken. Since the accident, the injury had become worse as the bone had moved another millimetre from the main bone. “Hudson went those 8 days with his leg bent, pulling that bone away from the main bone,” said Jansen.
Hudson was immediately fitted with a splint from his hip to above his ankle with metal rods to keep the leg aligned. “I’m no x-ray technician, but I could have told you it was a broken bone,” said Jansen
“As a mom, I’m heartbroken. I’m scared. I feel like I’ve let down my son. I thought I could trust the Fort St. John Hospital. I thought I could trust the professionals within that building not to harm my son,” said Jansen.
Hudson has to go back in four weeks for a follow up with Dr. Groohi. Due to the injury getting worse during the 8-day period after the accident, Jansen said there is now the potential that Hudson will require surgery.
“I am deeply concerned for what the outcome is going to be, when it could have been prevented,” said Jansen.
CJDC TV News reached out to BC’s Health Minister for comment on this story. We were told that Josie Osbourne would not make herself available to answer questions about the quality of care being provided at the Fort St. John Hospital.
“Northern Health takes any concerns raised about quality of care very seriously. Northern Health is aware of the concerns which have been raised publicly about the care a patient received at Fort St. John Hospital and has reviewed what occurred in this case. To respect and protect the privacy of patients, Northern Health cannot speak to the specifics of individual patient care,” said the Health Authority to CJDC TV in a statement.
Northern Health suggested that Jansen speak to the doctor or doctors at the Fort St. John Hospital who misdiagnosed Hudson’s injury and raise her concerns.
But Jansen said, “We’ve lost our trust in this Fort Saint John Hospital. In order to gain the community’s trust back, it’s going to require action. Not just words, but action.”
Jansen said this is not the first time someone in her family has been taken to the Fort St. John Hospital and then needed to be taken elsewhere. She said that this is not about blame but instead, about accountability.
“How many more people have to sit in that emergency room to just go home when it’s not safe for them to go home? It needs to be fixed. We deserve better health care. We just can’t keep saying, ‘oh, it’s just the state of health care.’ Those are just words.”
