This story is part of a series examining systemic discrimination against Indigenous patients in British Columbia’s nursing profession. To read part 1 of the series, go to click here.
By the time Penny Kerrigan arrived at Mills Memorial Hospital in northern British Columbia, she said the morphine she was given before boarding the emergency flight from Haida Gwaii had worn off.
“I was in extreme pain,” said the Haida elder who served as B.C.’s regional liaison officer for the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
She was flown from her hometown of Oldmassett to a hospital in Terrace, British Columbia, on October 19, 2020, after doctors told her she needed a CT scan to determine the cause of her severe abdominal pain.
Kerrigan didn’t know it at the time, but she had appendicitis and would soon need emergency surgery.
But Kerrigan said she was discharged from the hospital in the middle of the night and taken to an unfamiliar city without undergoing a CT scan or any diagnosis of her painful and potentially fatal condition.
She claims she was treated roughly and disrespectfully by the nurses who examined her, refused her prescribed pain medication, and was given only regular-strength Tylenol to deal with her discomfort.
“I went to different hospitals,” she said. “I’ve never experienced anything like that.”
That same day, Kerrigan filed a human rights complaint against Northern Health over her treatment, alleging anti-Indigenous discrimination by doctors and nurses she encountered.
July, B.C. Human Rights Tribunal announced the decision Approved the health department’s request to add the doctor who examined Kerrigan that night as a defendant.
As part of a series, Kerrigan talks about anti-Indigenous racism in nursing and how the BC College of Nursing and Midwifery, the province’s largest health care professional regulator, is trying to address this pervasive issue. told CBC.
She says education about Canada’s history of discriminatory, oppressive and abusive policies towards Indigenous peoples needs to be a priority for those who want to become nurses, along with training and accountability to dispel dangerous stereotypes. He said that there is.
“Maybe because I was from an Indigenous community…I felt they thought I was looking for drugs,” Kerrigan said at the hospital in Terrace, a small city about 700 kilometers northwest of Vancouver. He talked about his experience.
“How could they do this to me? How could they do this to anyone else? It doesn’t matter the color of your skin.”
Health officials deny discrimination
According to the court’s decision, Northern Health denied discriminating against Kerrigan and maintained that its treatment of her was appropriate and reasonable.
Health officials said all evaluations and treatment orders are being conducted by doctors like Dr. Daniel Abraham Beal Torchinsky, who discharged Kerrigan from the hospital.
Northern Health declined to comment while the case is still before the court. Torchinsky did not respond to multiple requests for comment through his attorney.
Kerrigan claims staff at Mills Memorial Hospital became immediately hostile when they learned she was from Old Masset, in the Haida Gwaii archipelago, about 100 kilometers off British Columbia’s north coast. . She also said she was unnecessarily rough when her nurse inserted her IV line, leaving her with multiple bruises.
When she later asked to speak to the surgeon who had seen her on a previous visit, she was allegedly told that the surgeon was no longer at the hospital, according to a July court decision. That was not true.
After being released in the middle of the night with nowhere to go, Kerrigan managed to find a taxi and secure a room at a local hotel.
“I was up all night in pain and couldn’t sleep,” she said.
WATCH | Penny Kerrigan speaks out about alleged bias in B.C. hospitals:
Penny Kerrigan, who filed a complaint alleging human rights violations over her treatment at a British Columbia hospital, said she was discharged without a diagnosis of appendicitis, treatment, or adequate pain medication.
Distraught by her experience at Terrace, she tried to make plans to fly to Vancouver and receive treatment at a hospital there.
But after Kerrigan’s condition continued to deteriorate and her daughter spoke with hospital administrators, Kerrigan agreed to return to Mills Memorial, the court ruling said.
She said when she arrived for her second visit that morning, another nurse was on duty and treated her with kindness and respect.
She also learned that the surgeon she had seen earlier was still at the hospital, contrary to what she had been told.
“He checked the X-rays and found out I had appendicitis,” Kerrigan said.
She underwent emergency surgery that day to remove her appendix.
“I don’t want money.”
Kerrigan said the experience has left her feeling anxious and fearful about seeking medical care.
Since having her appendix removed, she developed an allergic reaction to shellfish and had to be taken to the emergency room at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver.
“There was a moment where I thought, ‘Oh my God, I hope they’re good nurses.’ When I walked into the room and the paramedics left, that’s when the trauma started. ” she said.
Thankfully, the nurses who saw her that day were caring and competent, but Kerrigan said she remained alert throughout the visit.
At this time, there is no timeline for when her human rights complaint will be heard. Courts continue to have a significant backlog due to complaints related to COVID-19 masking and vaccine policies.
But Kerrigan says she told her lawyer it would be a long battle.
“Actually, he asked me what I wanted, and I said I didn’t want money. I said that policy needs to change. This isn’t just racism, it’s an organization. It’s discrimination,” she said.