Woman pursuing legal action on UHNBC following medically induced labour

A Terrace woman is pursuing legal action against the University Hospital of Northern BC following her experience giving birth to her baby boy.

Kristy White alleges medical malpractice and racism took place during her stay at the hospital, leaving her child with brain damage causing him to be developmentally delayed.

White was sent to the hospital for medically induced labor on June 17th, 2020.

According to White, the problems began after a shift change occurred leaving her in the care of a nurse who made racially insensitive comments and ignored medical advice from both the attending doctor and fellow nurses.

“It was immediately noticed by everyone and the doctor that she had an issue with me, I’m not sure what it was,” she explained, “she didn’t even introduce herself to me when the nurse was giving her an overview of what happened that day and night.”

She says throughout the shift, the nurse would ignore the requests made by the attending doctor and other nurses, which led to a grueling 24-hour long labor before giving birth to her son, Wesley.

White claims the nurse also kicked other doctors and nurses out of the room on multiple occasions and even made a complaint to the head nurse.

“I just wanted to know why I wasn’t progressing. It had been going on since the afternoon and they kept coming in to increase my epidural and I kept feeling intense pain so I kept asking her to get my doctor and she would leave the room and come back and tell me she was on the phone or busy with another patient. I found out the day after Wesley was born that the nurse never once went to go get the doctor.”

Once a doctor intervened, White says she immediately was ready to give birth to her son, and the doctors administered a vacuum-assisted delivery.

On May 3, 2021, a neurologist at the BC Children’s Hospital in Vancouver diagnosed Wesley with brain bleeds, which White claims the neurologist told her was likely due to the prolonged delivery and vacuum-assisted birth.

“Wesley will always have mobility issues and communication issues just because of where his brain bleeds are in the brain, so he’ll need constant follow-up.”

White says her son isn’t the only one dealing with the repercussions of her birth, and that she is still dealing with the effects of the experience, which she claims was extremely traumatic.

“It was scary, I still have trauma-related emotions when it comes to getting medical help and working with the health care system because it was like I was left alone with this person and had to ensure hours and hours of her bias behavior towards us and making comments about our culture and traditions, it was uncalled for.”

White has been working with a lawyer for a few months now and is currently seeking more information on her son’s diagnosis.

Because of her son’s ailments, White isn’t sure if she’ll be able to return to work, and has set up a GoFundMe page to help pay for some of the extensive treatments that her son requires. 

Northern Health has issued the following statement on the issue:

“We take all complaints seriously; when a complaint is made, it is investigated and if there are specific policies or protocols that need to be changed, we undertake that. Northern Health strives to support a health care system that is culturally safe for Indigenous people; we are committed to providing a work and care environment that is characterized by respectful behaviour, and free from discrimination, bullying and harassment. We know that the vast majority of our staff and care providers share this commitment, and provide culturally safe care every day – and we also know there is more work to be done. Although we cannot speak to the specifics of any individual patient experience or care in order to respect and protect the privacy of patients, we can say that there was a quality of care complaint that was investigated when concerns were raised in June 2020, and a response was provided to the complainant. Anyone who is unsatisfied with the response or outcome from a health authority Patient Care Quality Office investigation also has the option of contacting the Patient Care Quality Review Board for an independent review. Northern Health continues to work closely with the Ministry of Health, the First Nations Health Authority and Métis Nation BC, in planning and implementing actions to meet the recommendations related to systemic racism in the health care system from the In Plain Sight report.”