Son died after he was left unattended in Vernon, B.C., hospital for 6½ hours, woman's negligence suit claims
Michael Peace was found unresponsive after staff failed to check on him, give prescribed naloxone, mother says
A B.C. woman has filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against Interior Health and physicians at an Okanagan hospital for alleged negligence in her son's 2021 death.
In a notice of civil claim, Alison Peace claims her son Michael Peace, 36, was admitted to Vernon Jubilee Hospital suffering from an overdose of fentanyl in December 2021.
According to a notice of civil claim filed in B.C. Supreme Court, the following day her son was found unresponsive having choked on his own vomit after staff at the hospital failed to administer a prescribed dose of opioid antagonist drug naloxone and did not check in on him for several hours, against a physician's orders.
The civil suit alleges negligence of the hospital staff contributed to Michael's death and names the health authority and four physicians working at the hospital as defendants. None of the claims have been proven in court and the defendants have not yet filed a legal response.
'The worst kind of grief'
In an interview with CBC News, Peace described the loss of her son as "the worst kind of agony a parent could endure" and said even two years later she still wakes up in the middle of the night having panic attacks about the thought of him being left alone in a hospital room with no one watching on him.
"It's the worst kind of grief," Peace said. "It is horrible. It never goes away and I would not want people to have to go through this."
In a written statement provided to CBC News, Interior Health said it was sorry for the family's loss, but could not comment on the matter while it is before the courts.
Peace described Michael as the father of two young children and well-known in the construction industry for the quality of his work with concrete.
Michael had sought treatment for depression and addiction multiple times, Peace said.
In 2021, he was seeing a therapist and attending Narcotics Anonymous meetings but then relapsed, Peace said.
In December of that year he was admitted to Vernon Jubilee Hospital suffering from an overdose.
Peace said initially she was shocked and worried, but after speaking with a doctor she felt Michael might finally get the help he needed with recovery.
"I was relieved that he was being held under the Mental Health Act because I thought, well, at least he can't just walk away and we thought, OK, maybe he's finally going to get proper treatment," Peace said.
Those hopes soon vanished, Peace said, after she got a call in the middle of the night from a doctor at the hospital informing her that Michael was in a coma.
Lawsuit alleges negligence by hospital staff
The notice of civil clam alleges prior to Michael's arrival at the emergency ward, emergency responders had administered naloxone to reverse the effects of opioids.
At the hospital a physician prescribed the opioid hydromorphone to ease the symptoms of opioid withdrawal, the lawsuit states. The next day another physician prescribed additional hydromorphone and naloxone and ordered nursing staff to check on Michael every 15 minutes, the suit alleges.
However, according to the lawsuit, the naloxone was never administered and Michael was left unattended for a period of about 6.5 hours, until a nurse found him unresponsive in his room with evidence that he choked on his own vomit.
The notice of civil claim alleges a CT scan confirmed significant aspiration — meaning that vomit or fluids had entered his lungs — and a decision was made to transfer Michael to Kelowna General Hospital, where he died the following day.
"As a result of the negligence of the defendants, Mr. Peace suffered a medical overdose of hydromorphone and asphyxiation resulting in his death," reads the lawsuit.
'This kind of death should not be happening'
In an interview with CBC News, Peace's lawyer, Keri Grenier, said this kind of death should not be happening in a hospital.
"Parents should not have to learn that their son was not being properly supervised, despite doctor's orders and aspirated on his own vomit possibly due to a medical overdose," Grenier said.
Peace said she is speaking out about her son's death because she doesn't want another family to go through the same agonizing experience.
"It should never have happened," she said. "He should still be here with us."
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