The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
A probe is underway into a recent altercation at the Flin Flon General Hospital that left two doctors suspended and re-ignited concerns over the state of local health care. The incident is the subject of many rumours, some of them contradictory, but the Northern Health Region agrees that the word 'altercation' appropriately describes what happened between the two physicians. 'But beyond that we won't get into the personnel issue,' said Glenn Hildebrand, spokesperson for the NHR, when asked for further details. Hildebrand confirmed that the two physicians, who are not being publicly identified, are not being paid while on indefinite suspension. He could not or would not confirm whether the RCMP got involved, and neither would the Mounties themselves. 'We can't confirm or deny who or what, may or may not be the subject of an investigation,' said Sgt. Line Karpish, a spokesperson for the RCMP in Manitoba, when asked about this specific incident. 'To do so may infringe on the privacy of individuals directly or indirectly, and also, to do so could jeopardize the integrity of any possible ongoing investigation.' A non-police investigation into the altercation began last Thursday, Aug. 8, after the NHR hired an out-of-region external investigator to come to Flin Flon. Helga Bryant, CEO of the NHR, said the investigator is 'highly respected' with many years of health care experience and a legal and human resource background. 'We have a high degree of trust in him,' said Bryant, adding that the investigator is working as quickly and as thoroughly as possible. Bryant preferred not to name the investigator without first getting his permission. Tom Heine, chair of a local Concerned Citizens Health Care Committee, called it 'completely unacceptable' that an altercation involving physicians took place in a public health care facility. He linked the incident to a 2011 provincial investigation that identified within the Flin Flon health care system an 'atmosphere of fear and intimidation' for doctors and other staff. See 'Toxic' on pg. Continued from pg. 'We know that there have been numerous complaints by staff about a toxic work environment...that have never been dealt with,' Heine said. Heine said Bryant had indicated all aspects of the 2011 provincial investigation had been addressed, but 'this event would seem to indicate otherwise.' 'We would say that Ms. Bryant, by accident or design, has not dealt effectively with the work environment within the (hospital),' he said. 'The way that the staff act within the hospital is the responsibility of the NHR. We would judge that this recent altercation has been building up for some time but has been ignored. Is confidence in our local health care system being restored? We don't think so!' But Bryant argued that the NHR's prompt response to the altercation illustrates the progress the organization has made. 'As I think back over the last two years, we have done many things in the Northern Health Region, specifically in Flin Flon, around implementing the (recommendations from the 2011 investigation) and altering the culture,' she said. 'We've put in strong medical leadership. We've been focusing on standards. We've been focusing on healthy, respectful workplaces, and we acted very swiftly, very decisively as soon as this (altercation) came to our attention. And I think that in and of itself bears witness that we are working very diligently on building a better, safer system.' Asked how she responds to someone who sees the altercation as a continuation of workplace problems previously identified, Bryant stressed efforts have been ongoing 'to create a better, more respectful workplace.' 'I think in the past this situation would have been handled differently,' she said. 'We have strong medical leadership in place now that ensures that the situations are handled quickly, decisively, following a clear process and holding professionals accountable _ and always with the patient in the middle of this because everything we do is creating a safe environment for patients.' Safety paramount? But in Heine's view, patient safety did not appear to be paramount in the altercation or in other situations within the local health care system. He gave the example of the Flin Flon ER, where physicians work 24-hour shifts despite evidence that such lengthy periods of work increase the risk of medical error. For now, the absence of the two suspended physicians leaves a gap both in terms of the ER and their personal practices at the NHR Medical Clinic. Bryant said two outside physicians will be spending 'a significant amount of time' in Flin Flon to fill the void. 'Patients are being called and, depending on sort of where they are at in their care journey, decisions are being made around how urgently they need to be seen,' she said. 'So we are again putting patients at the centre of this and making sure that they get the care that they need.' The 2011 provincial investigation involved not only Flin Flon, but health care across the now-defunct NOR-MAN Regional Health Authority, whose major centres were Flin Flon, The Pas and Snow Lake. The resultant report recommended 'an extensive overhaul of the physician environment' within NOR-MAN. It cited frequent 'bullying comments' between physicians, among numerous other problems.
