When a family entrusts the life of their mother to Manitoba’s health care professionals, they don’t expect to ever hear that “human error” caused her to die. In Episode 13, you’ll hear about the case of Debbie Fewster, whose heart finally gave out while she was waiting for cardiac surgery.
As her son Daniel explains, the delay occured because the requisition was put in the wrong pile.
Read our report in the Winnipeg Sun: Fewster death exposes NDP’s lack of competence, and compassion
9.50 Part 2- When a family entrusts the life of their mother to Manitoba’s health care professionals, they don’t expect to ever hear that “human error” caused her to die.
“It’s so much worse than we thought,” Daniel Fewster says. As we reported last year, the family believed the issue was surgical wait times, but an internal investigation dug up the real reason.
He explains how his mother, a retired Niverville health care aid, received medication to ensure she didn’t take up a hospital bed, but that resulted in her being considered an “outpatient.”
Debbie’s file was tossed into a 180-day ‘surgery can wait’ pile. That case management system was invented as a COVID measure and was never reviewed by the NDP. “There are fundamental breakdowns in communication between the health regions.”
25.09 Part 3- “There’s no justice, there’s no explanation, it’s just, your mom died cause there was a mistake, have a good day… there’s a level of pain that comes with that.”
Is this death just the cost of doing business for the NDP?
“It’s made me nervous. I sure hope I don’t get sick and have to go to the hospital. Man, to be on this side of losing a loved one to a medical error like that sure doesn’t help your trust in the system.”
41.18 – Marty asks Daniel about whether this case also proves there was no review of patient files after being placed in the ‘outpatient’ file to make sure those cases didn’t require urgent attention.
The reaction of reporters at the press conference, hosted by SecondStreet.org, was “a silent gasp, like, my gosh, this actually happened in Canada.”
44.00– As Second Street president Colin Craig discovered, “Government documents show no staff have received any disciplinary action for this tragedy.”
The discussion wraps up with the lack of accountability for government institutions compared to deaths that occur within private industry; the status of Debbie’s Law, and why it is still needed; and how the NDP’s Bill 27 serves to protect the bureaucrats and politicians like Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara, not the patients or the public.
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Read our report- Kinew delays consumption site rollout
We have led the way in holding the Kinew government to account for fake public consultations, withholding information, and dubious harm reduction policies proposed for a drug user site.
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