Health authority disputes claim 89-year-old patient was transferred to Flin Flon without family notification

The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority is disputing a claim that an 89-year-old patient was transferred from Concordia Hospital in Winnipeg to Flin FlonGeneral Hospitalwithout her family receiving any notice.

Last month, Winnipegger Rick Wienstold CBC his mother-in-law, Denise Mignot, was transferred to the northern Manitoba hospital more than 600 kilometres from Winnipegbefore he and his wife were notified.

After the story was published on Feb. 14, a spokesperson with the Winnipeg health authority said patient privacy laws prevented them from speaking to specific details of an individual's care, but that the health authority did review the situation.

"Our review of this situation with Concordia Hospital makes it clear that appropriate processes, including notification of and discussion with members of the family were followed by the care team ahead of the transfer taking place," the spokesperson said in an email.

The WRHA saysif a patient is competent, they are told directly that they'll be transferred, but the hospital also ensures there's opportunity to notify their contact or a family representative.

If the patient is not competent, the discussion takes place with the power of attorney or next of kin and designated family representative, the spokesperson said.

Wienssaid the hospital might have notified his sister-in-law, who hasn't been in contact with his wife, but if so, he wasn't aware of it. He said Mignotlisted both of her daughters as emergency contacts.

"Ifthere's two emergency contacts, why weren'tboth of them contacted?" Wiens said. "Tothat, I would say you didn't do your due diligence."

The health authority says itsprocess is to identify one family representative to contact about care, which isconsistent with other health-care systems.

"To minimize confusion and to ensure the consistency of information shared between the clinical team and the family, we do not notify multiple family members," the spokesperson said.

"Families can discuss options and make decisions amongst themselves, and those decisions are then communicated to the clinical team through the contact or family representative," he said.