David Amos 

Methinks all the politicians wish to forget that my sister who is a lawyer and a nurse was the first patient advocate that New Brunswick ever had. When the politicians had me falsely arrested in 2008 and I demanded to see a judge in a timely fashion the Crown did not want to argue me so the RCMP took me to the DECH in Fredericton. Then 3 cops and 2 hospital guards pounced on me and held me down while a nurse pulled down my drawers and injected me with drugs. When I stood up after the obvious assault I demanded to speak to their patient advocate. The doctors and nurses all played dumb until I mentioned my sister's name. 10 Years after they all try to pretend that it never happened but the Crown cannot argue my lawsuit so they have broken many rules and tried every evil trick in the book to make it go away and have only served to make matters worse as I prepare to run against David Coon and sue the Crown at least 3 more times as is my right under the Charter N'esy Pas?

  
Rod McLeod







  
Crystal Whelton








  
Stephen Long







  
Jason Inness




 

Listen to the full CBC New Brunswick Political Panel podcast by downloading from the CBC Podcast page or subscribing to the podcast in iTunes.

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New Brunswick opposition parties are calling for an independent advocate for patients after the death of 52-year-old Greg Garnett, whose wife alleges he was mistreated after she called 911 when he suffered severe chest pains.

The case sparked a heated debate during the CBC Political Panel over how the investigation into cases like Garnett's should be handled.

Health Minister Benoî​t Bourque said he was committed to looking at how such cases are handled in other provinces to see what changes can be made here.

"We have to look at what's being done in other provinces to see if there is another way," he said. "We're also open to seeing if there is a better way to do things."

Bourque's statement didn't seem enough for Progressive Conservative MLA Jack Carr, who offered his condolences to the Garnett family before criticizing a lack of action by Bourque and the government.

Cathy Garnett has said the problems with Ambulance New Brunswick began when paramedics arrived at her Rowley house outside Saint John 40 minutes after her 911 call and yelled at her husband, who was immobilized by pain, to get himself into a stretcher.

She said Greg was kicked and the paramedics ignored his pain because they were certain it was only back pain. When they reached the hospital, the paramedics' assessment of back pain was conveyed to ER staff, and there was another delay before a CT scan eventually found he had a life-threatening aortic dissection.

Garnett believes the mistakes, stumbling and insensitivity by paramedics and ER staff played a role in her husband's death five weeks later.
"I've had enough of it," Carr told Bourque. "We're just touching the tip of the iceberg here.

"Ben, you need to take this one a step further, we've had numerous conversations, other files that never went anywhere. This one needs to go one step further."

Carr got emotional as he urged the minister to make things right for the Garnetts.

"Cut this crap out," he said.

All in agreement

Green Party Leader David Coon, NDP Leader Jennifer McKenzie and People's Alliance Leader Kris Austin all agreed on the need for independent investigations of cases like these.

"We do need something that is independent," Coon said. "I would be surprised if there would be any opposition to this in the medical community."

While patients advocates do exist, they are employed at the Horizon and Vitalité​ health networks and are not independent.

McKenzie called for a complete overhaul, saying Ambulance New Brunswick, which is run by the private company Medavie Health Services, should be managed by the province.
Although the ambulance service in New Brunswick has come under attack in different parts of the province, the Liberal government renewed Medavie's contract for another 10 years last year.

McKenzie presented a five-point plan for how the complaints should be handled, including allowing the health-care system to respond.

"The system needs to go in and have their little committees and 'Oh, we need to modify this or change that,'" she argued.

Like the auditor general 

 

The Political Panel from CBC News New Brunswick with Terry Seguin, August 2nd Edition

00:0054:46

Coon suggested an advocate who is independent would require a lot of resources for staff and research, so incidents can be properly investigated.

"Right now, the only recourse, really, is to go to the courts, and most people can't afford that," he said.

He said the powers of the advocate should be similar to those of the auditor general.
Austin agreed with Coon but said the system needs to be fixed too.

"You can have all the advocates you want, but at the same time you have to have a system that works," he said.

"Ambulance New Brunswick has been a dismal failure in New Brunswick. That's the reality."