For the second time in just over two weeks, New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs has personally become involved in a high-profile incident in the province’s health care system — again after it was made public in media reports.
Dave and Nancy Barnett demanded answers last week as to why their son John was discharged from Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital in Fredericton just hours after breaking his neck in a motorcycle accident.
After their public complaints, Nancy Barnett said the prime minister called her and her husband at their home in Pictou, NS
She said Margaret Melanson, interim president and CEO of Horizon Health Network, also called and arranged for a doctor to examine John at home. He was later taken by ambulance to St. John’s Hospital.
John Barnett broke the C7 vertebra in his neck, as well as his sternum, but was sent home after six hours of care in Fredericton. His parents wanted to know why he wasn’t held for at least 24 hours to monitor injuries that could have left him paralyzed.
Nancy Barnett said Higgs called twice over the weekend — first on Saturday and again on Sunday — and left voicemails because she and her husband weren’t home to answer the phone.
Dave and Nancy Barnett, John’s parents, received two calls from New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs after they sent him a letter asking him to review how their son was being treated at the Fredericton hospital. (Submitted by Dave Barnett)
It is not up to Higgs to run the health authorities
The move comes after a press conference on July 15 in which Higgs, in response to the death of a man in the waiting room of the same hospital’s emergency department, said it was not up to him to run the health authorities, but up to him “to ensure that the right people are in the positions to do it.”
That incident prompted Higgs to fire Horizon Health’s former president and CEO and replace the board of directors with a single trustee. He also replaced the provincial health minister.
Horizon Health did not respond to questions about whether Higgs played a role in the follow-up care provided to Barnett.
In an emailed statement, Melanson said she felt it was important to reach out to Barnett personally to determine how he and his family were doing and if there was anything she could do to help.
Meanwhile, Nancy Barnett said they appreciate whatever the prime minister does.
“As a matter of fact, I intend to give [Higgs] I called today to thank him,” she said. “I believe that without his support things might not have progressed as quickly as they did.”
Barnett declined to share what Higgs said in his voicemails.
John Barnett’s parents received two missed phone calls from Higgs after they wrote him a letter complaining about the treatment he received at a Fredericton hospital. (Pat Richard/CBC)
She said her son has been released from St. John’s Hospital and is back home in Fredericton – in pain but recovering.
CBC News has requested an interview with Higgs about his involvement in the case and is awaiting a response.
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