Children blame Prince George’s Simon Fraser Lodge for mother’s death

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The lack of care our mother received at Simon Fraser Lodge robbed us of our remaining time together.

Kelly Ashton was 62 when she died at the Prince George Hospice on December 1. Her official cause of death was natural causes, but her son Jason Keller and daughter Santaya Garnot allege their mother’s death was wrongful.

Ashton, a long-term care resident, fell and hit her head twice on Nov. 9. But she was not seen in person by a doctor until her children insisted she go to hospital on November 11.

The siblings say his death was the result of negligence on the part of Simon Fraser Lodge, a private long-term care facility contracted by Northern Health and run by Buron Healthcare Ltd. in Prince George.

“She had dementia, but otherwise she wasn’t in poor health,” Garnot said.

The siblings want to know why their mother wasn’t seen by a doctor in person or taken to hospital sooner.

“When you have a loved one with dementia, every moment of their time with you is precious,” Keller said. “The lack of care our mother received at Simon Fraser Lodge robbed us of the time we had left together.”

“Our mother passed away and we want to know what happened.”

While a representative for Buron Healthcare, which operates the Simon Fraser Lodge, declined to comment on details of Ashton’s case, citing privacy concerns, she noted that they take all incidents seriously. Buron Healthcare’s Vice President of Operations, Michele Thomson, wrote that Buron Healthcare is “always open to reviewing and updating policies and procedures as needed.” She noted that the lodge has protocols in place to prevent and treat falls.

Ashton was living with early onset Alzheimer’s disease. She had two falls in one day before she died.

On November 9, she was restless and wandering, according to an investigation by the long-term care facility. Staff found her bruised and bleeding from a bump on her head around 4am in the common living room.

Ashton was unable to get up on her own after the fall, but an assessment by a nurse revealed no issues, according to an internal investigation summary. Staff reassured her son Keller that he was fine when he came to see her later that morning on November 9.

That afternoon, Ashton complained of headaches. She fell again at the beginning of the evening. Staff found her on all fours in front of a yellow warning sign placed on the hallway floor around 6:20 p.m., according to the report. There was a second large bruised bump on his head.

Staff at the facility again found no concerns during an assessment after the fall, and when consulting the doctor over the phone, they did not recommend that she go to hospital. Staff assured Keller and her sister Garnot that their mother did not need further medical attention and that she would be seen by the doctor on her next visit. Garnot agreed to the use of a restraint and a wheelchair to prevent future falls, a solution recommended by the doctor over the phone.

But on Nov. 11, Keller said Ashton was “out of it,” hunched over with her head tilted forward. She had not yet been seen by the doctor in person. Her children insisted that she go to the hospital to be examined and, by telephone, the doctor authorized her transfer to the hospital by ambulance.

Shortly after he was admitted to the University Hospital of Northern British Columbia in Prince George, doctors diagnosed him with a concussion and two fractured vertebrae in his neck.

Ashton was given a neck brace and stabilized in hospital, but died a few weeks later in hospice on December 1.

Meanwhile, the family’s quest for answers and accountability has been complicated by British Columbia’s wrongful death laws, which limit their options for legal redress. In the case of wrongful deaths, BC families can sue people and entities they believe to be guilty on behalf of their loved one.

The Wills, Inheritance and Estates Act establishes this right but limits the damages families can claim to economic costs only.

And the Family Compensation Act specifies that such economic damages are limited to the loss of future income the dependents relied on and any funeral and burial expenses associated with the death.

The law does not allow families to sue for their suffering or that of their loved ones or seek punitive damages if they allege gross negligence.

“What that basically means is that if you’re not a breadwinner, with young children, your life is worthless,” said Michael-James Pennie, president of the BC Wrongful Death Law Reform Society. . “This means that anyone who does not meet these discriminatory criteria has no legislative protection under the law.”

Learning that they have no legal avenue to sue for wrongful death because their mother failed to support them financially added to the family’s grief, Garnot and Keller said.

Keller and Garnot said they plan to file complaints with the Northern Health Patient Care Quality Office and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia against the doctor who did not recommend Ashton go to the hospital. They are considering other avenues to justice, such as a Charter challenge, which would allege that their mother’s right to life, liberty and security of the person was violated by Simon Fraser Lodge and again by British Columbia legislation.

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