Family says senior was discharged from the Kamloops hospital in pyjamas with nowhere to go

A 77-year-old woman from a small town in B.C.’s Interior has received an apology after her family says she was discharged from the hospital in Kamloops, at night, in her pyjamas with nowhere to go.

Michele Hart, who lives in Langley, says her mother Janis started having convulsions and fainted in her kitchen Tuesday. Janis was rushed to the hospital in Clearwater.

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She was then transferred to the emergency room at Kamloops’ Royal Inland Hospital where she spent hours waiting for a diagnosis.

“They did a CT scan and other tests and discovered she had swelling in her brain and gave her a prescription,” Hart told CityNews.

“Then, at 9:00 at night, they discharged her, in Kamloops. She lives in Clearwater, 120 kilometres away and she had no way to get home.”

Hart says her father can not drive at night and it would have taken her hours to drive to Kamloops from Langley while her mother waited in her pyjamas, exhausted and wondering what to do.

“She’s 77 years old and this is just a horrible way to treat seniors. It’s bad enough she’s going through this health scare and they … kick her to the curb.”

The family scrambled to find a solution, considering options like a taxi to a local hotel, but managed to find a relative of a family friend who lived in Kamloops who could take Janis in for the night.

“I’m disgusted,” said Hart, who considers this one more blunder from B.C.’s health-care system. “I’m horrified that this would happen. I see things like this in the news and find them absolutely heartbreaking and now it’s happened to our family.”

The Interior Health Authority has offered the Hart family an apology.

“We are very sorry for this family’s experience and are reaching out to them directly to find out what happened in this case, as well as looking into it internally,” the health authority said Thursday in an emailed statement to CityNews.

“Interior Health does have supports available for individuals who are transported to larger centres for care and don’t have family or friends available to bring them home. This includes taxi vouchers for people who don’t need medical care during their transfer or using an ambulance for people who may require supports or monitoring during their trip.”

It also offers hotel stays for discharged patients if travel is not an option until the next day and says hospitals have clothing and shoes available as well if patients need them.

Hart says her mother is now resting and recovering, with a follow-up appointment scheduled within the next few days.