A photo of Marlene and her husband Leslie. (Submitted photo/Marlene Panas)

By Ian Gustafson

P.A. woman recalls frustration with SHA as husband dies in hospital

Mar 17, 2021 | 8:00 AM

A Prince Albert woman is sharing her frustrations during a traumatic time of losing her ailing husband amid COVID restrictions at the Victoria Hospital in December. She says over a three week period she was given the runaround by staff and claims she was shown a lack of compassion. The Saskatchewan Health Authority blamed a breakdown in communications for some of her concerns.

Marlene Panas’ husband Leslie was admitted to Victoria Hospital Dec.14 with kidney failure, but she was unable to visit because of the COVID protocols. She claims she called daily for an update and was promised someone would call her back but that didn’t happen until the fourth day.

In the next few days Marlene said she got a call from a doctor at the hospital saying Leslie was now in palliative care and unable to walk but wanted to come home. Despite the doctor agreeing not to send Leslie home – because Marlene was not in a positon to offer him care – she later got a call from a social worker saying Leslie couldn’t stay at the hospital anymore. Her options were to either take him home and get home care or pay $250 per day to keep him in hospital.

As a further complication Leslie was then taken to St. Paul’s Hospital in Saskatoon, without Marlene’s knowledge. He was returned to Victoria Hospital but Marlene claims her visits were restricted and only she could see Leslie, yet other patients were being visited by two people at a time.

Lack of communication

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In the days leading to her husband’s death all visits were prohibited and on the day of his passing, Jan.4, she says she was not alerted by staff that he was dying. She never got to say goodbye.

She told paNOW her experience was very frustrating.

“The diagnosis my husband got… the way it was handled, I can’t tell you how terrible I felt,” Marlene said. “Nobody was telling me what I wanted to know, it was just frustrating.”

She wanted to share her story because she felt there could be other people that have gone through this and wants to see some change. She hopes to see the SHA have better communication between each other as well as with the patients and immediate family.

“Nobody discussed anything with me as to what we can do or how they could help me,” she said.

Her biggest issue is she claims the SHA did not let her know when her husband was close to passing away.

“Usually when a person is basically on their death bed, they call the family and you can go and spend some time with the person before they actually pass,” she said.

She claims the SHA told her his death was unexpected.

“How can you say it was unexpected, he’s palliative care his kidneys aren’t functioning.”

SHA’s response

In a letter to Marlene and shared by her to paNOW, SHA blamed the proposed charge of $250 per day made by a social worker as a ‘breakdown in communication’ and they would ‘work on improving the flow of information between practitioners.’

In addition SHA said Leslie had been moved to a Saskatoon hospital because a prior appointment had been made for him there.

“We have learned that it is always important to communicate, regardless of whether the information is new or not, and even more so when family presence is limited,” the SHA letter stated.

As for the limited visitation, SHA said family visitation guidelines were in the process of changing at the time which led to confusion and a COVID outbreak later resulted in further restrictions.

“I understand it was very difficult for you when you were unable to be with Leslie before he passed away, ” the SHA letter read. ” Staff were following the pandemic guidelines mandated at the time to keep everyone as safe as possible. While Leslie was palliative and waiting for long term care placement, his death that day was truly unexpected.”

When asked by paNOW how the public can avoid getting conflicting messages from staff, SHA said family of patients should talk to a physician, nursing staff and the units nursing manager if they have questions. They also say to contact a quality-of-care coordinator for help communicating with staff.

Regarding the process for when someone needs palliative care and needs to be discharged from Victoria Hospital acute care, the SHA said the patient would be assessed, including input from the most responsible physician, to determine appropriate discharge planning. Family members would also be involved to assist in determining if moving home is possible and what support may be required.

If family cannot look after their loved one the SHA explained the family can talk with their nearest home care office and an assessment would be done to find out the patients needs. According to the Government of Saskatchewan website, home care is free in the province for some of the services but there is a fee to cover part of some services based on the individuals income and what services they need. Private home care services are not covered.

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Ian.gustafson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @iangustafson12