Family says pregnant woman mistreated at Regina hospital

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“The surgeon said that he couldn’t believe that she could go that long in the amount of pain that this compartment syndrome would have caused her.”

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Schwan has remained in hospital for the last week, being transferred from the Pasqua over to the Regina General Hospital where she’s currently being treated. Bolen said her ailment spread up her arm and she had to have emergency surgery last Thursday. 

Doctors are also keeping a close eye on her unborn child as she’s 28 weeks pregnant.

Besides what Bolen referred to as this misdiagnosis, he was critical of the care she received when she was first brought to the ER. He claimed staff believed her to be high on drugs or alcohol, and kept asking Bolen and his wife Sheila whether their child was on crystal meth. They insisted she wasn’t high on anything, but instead Schwan was suffering from excruciating pain. Medication to help dull what Schwan was tolerating was requested by the Bolen’s, but they say painkillers were refused since it was believed they weren’t being truthful regarding their daughter’s sobriety.
 
Bolen said employees told their daughter to quit making so much noise.
 
Bolen added that Schwan had soiled herself; instead of discarding her clothing or placing it in a bag, he claimed staff rolled it up and shoved it into her purse.
 
“Everyone should be treated with basic human dignity and right from the start she wasn’t,” he stated.

Hypothetically speaking, he said even if she was high, that shouldn’t have drastically changed how she was cared for.
 
“You still need the compassion and the human dignity going into a professional medical facility to be treated for your accidents no matter how they were caused.”

The Regina Qu’Appelle Health Region agreed.
 
“Any patient coming in to an emergency department would get good care regardless of what their history is, whether they’re on medication or on illicit drugs it really doesn’t matter,” explained Glen Perchie, executive director of emergency and EMS.

Perchie couldn’t speak on the specifics of this case, but admitted he was glad that the family brought their concerns forward to him since he can’t act on what he’s not told. He offered his support to Schwan and her family during their experience.
 
“We have a family that is not satisfied with the care and I apologize for that. If we did not meet their expectations and their needs then I am very sorry.”
 
As a result, Perchie revealed a review of the incident will be started immediately. He said it’ll include not only the medical aspects, but also what he described as the “care around the care”.
 
“So in other words, is there the right TLC? Did the patient feel welcome?”

Perchie said he is committed to following up with the family on whether changes to their emergency room procedures are made. That’s what Bolen was hoping for, so that another family doesn’t have to go through the indignity he claims his family had to endure.

news@panow.com

On Twitter: @princealbertnow