Relatives denounce long-term care visit bans

The banning of relatives and others from visiting residents in long-term care facilities was denounced yesterday by a number of people affected by this management practice.
Shauna McHarg, Hugette Hebert and and Dennis Dupuis have all been temporarily or permanently banned from visiting relatives in Alberta facilities. They told their stories at an Edmonton press conference organized by Public Interest Alberta, which is calling on the provincial government to stop facilities from banning people from seeing their loved ones without due process.
Also on hand was Ruth Adria of the Elder Advocates of Alberta who has been banned from a number of facilities after bing asked by families to look into concerns about quality of care or abuse.
The issue was first brought into the public eye in an article I wrote for the December issue of the Edmonton Senior newspaper on Shauna McHarg's lengthy struggle to get more access to her parents, residents on separate wards at the Edmonton General Continuing Care Centre operated by Covenant Health.
McHarg is restricted to seeing her mother one hour a day five days a week, and has no chance to see her father. She has also been banned from visiting friends she made among the residents, including the late Beverly Munro, who had been vocal about her own complaints against the facility.
Covenant Health management figures upheld the restrictions against McHarg, but would not tell her why. This prompted her to seek help from the health minister, the Alberta ombudsman, the Health Quality Council of Alberta and the Alberta Health Services patient concerns officer, and eventually file a Freedom of Information and Privacy (FOIP) request.
The whole rigamarole has produced some partial victories, and one aspect is now being looked at by a judge, but her experience has mainly been one of buck passing and denial of ability to act.
"My goal is to see my parents," she told me. "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 accountable to anyone."
While Huguette Hebert was also banned from a Covenant Health facility, Daniel Dupuis has faced a month-long ban at the St. Therese Health Centre in St. Paul, where his 101-year-old mother lives.
"I have complied with all the restrictions they have placed on me over the past two years, yet there is no process in place where I can challenge these restrictions that allow me to visit my mother just one hour a day," he said. "How is this possible in Canada?"
Because she wanted to stay in her husband's room when he was being changed, to see if there were any pressure sores, Hebert was banned for a day and told that if she didn't cooperate she could be banned forever from seeing her husband.
"Now the CEO of Covenant Health has the audacity to say that the only reason they ban people is to protect patients or staff," said Hebert."Well, I think the reason they are abusing their power by banning people is to protect their own bottoms."
If health facility operators such as Covenant Health currently have policies on banning set out, they should be made public. If they do not have well-defined and reasonable policies, the policies should be developed. There also should be a process of appeal of any bannings and undue restrictions to an authority that can determine their legitimacy and compel redress if necessary.
The alternative may be a legal battle.
"If the government is not willing to act to empower families with real due process, then we will explore taking legal action to represent the rights of these families to be together," said Bill Moore-Kilgannon, executive director of Public Interest Alberta. The  organization is asking people who have people who have banned or threatened with banning to get in touch with them with a view to the possibility of joint legal action.

FOIP order is part of struggle for access to parents

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.”