Earlier this
year Shauna McHarg enjoyed a victory in what has been a long struggle.
The Office of the Information and
Privacy Commissioner ordered Covenant Health to disclose information about why
her visiting privileges had been restricted and she had been banned from their
premises.
McHarg’s mother Helen, who has advanced
Alzheimer’s disease, and father Ron are residents on separate wards at the
Edmonton General Continuing Care Centre.
The McHargs have been residents at the
General since early 2010, after a period at Alberta Hospital.
In the weeks following their arrival
Covenant Health imposed visitation conditions on the family, but during in
April 2010 and October 2011 more restrictive conditions were placed on Shauna
alone.
“I am allowed to see my mom for one
hour, from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m., Monday to Friday,” McHarg said in an interview.
She has been banned on occasion from
visiting her mother and father for supposedly “breaching the security and
safety of the residents.”
A further ban came in March 2012,
according to McHarg, when seniors health vice-president Al Pierog told her she
was permanently forbidden from visiting friends she’d made among the residents,
including the late Beverley Munro, who had been vocal about her own complaints
against the facility.
She was informed that she would be
charged with trespassing and permanently barred from visiting her mother and
father if found meeting with them on Edmonton General property.
In response, McHarg began a long and
complicated effort to gain more access to her parents. She dealt initially with
Covenant Health management figures, who upheld the restrictions against her,
but would not tell what they were based on, citing privacy concerns.
She later sought help from the health
minister, the Alberta ombudsman, the Health Quality Council of Alberta and the
Alberta Health Services patient concerns officer, without any action
forthcoming. Ruth Adria of the Elder Advocates of Alberta provided assistance.
In April 2011, McHarg made a Freedom of
Information and Privacy (FOIP) request for her personal information from
Covenant Health to find out why she was being banned from its premises and
having restrictions imposed on her visiting privileges.
“I should be able to find out why I was
banned and why do I have restrictions,” she said. “It’s very important for the
decision to be justified.”
Covenant Health provided some documents
in response to the request, but withheld other information.
Following an appeal by McHarg, an adjudicator with the Office of
the Information and Privacy Commissioner ordered Covenant Health to provide
further information to her. The decision was announced in an October 25 release.
At the end of November, she was informed
that a similar decision had been reached in a FOIP request to Alberta Health
Services for information it has on the matter.
Meanwhile, however, Covenant Health is
disputing the adjudicator’s decision and applied for a judicial review by the
Court of Queen’s Bench, which is scheduled for February 27-28.
“My goal is to see my parents,” said
McHarg. “Despite following the process I’ve been told to follow and spending
three years doing it, there’s no solution. It doesn’t seem like Covenant Health
is very accountable to anyone.”
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