Dix says review launched into allegations of racism against pregnant Indigenous woman
Posted January 30, 2021 12:00 pm.
Last Updated January 30, 2021 5:12 pm.
KITIMAT — Health Minister Adrian Dix says a review is underway to determine why an Indigenous woman was apparently turned away from a hospital in Kitimat before giving birth to a stillborn baby at another hospital.
Dustin Gaucher says after being turned away, his 21-year-old niece was driven by her father to another hospital in Terrace, which is 45 minutes away.
Gaucher says his niece is traumatized by her experience and that she also experienced racism at the second hospital where she delivered the stillborn baby.
He says doctors there didn’t seem to take her concerns seriously before they told her the baby did not have a heartbeat.
“They left my niece and my sister in the hospital room alone, where my niece tried to restart the baby’s heart and give it CPR. They refuse to do anything for that child, and nothing was explained to them, no reason for death. Nothing, there’s been not one excuse from the doctors on why this has happened,” he says.
We were refused service in Kitimat Hospital and my grandchild didn’t make it on the way to Terrace
