The parents of a New Brunswick boy say they’re angry after they were asked to leave a hospital emergency room because their son, who has ADHD and autism, was allegedly being too loud while he was waiting to be seen for seizures.
Lorissa and Glendon Kingston had brought their seven-year-old son, Cayden, to the Saint John Regional Hospital’s ER department on July 15.
Cayden, who is non-verbal and has epilepsy, has struggled with seizures since birth and had been experiencing longer episodes in recent days.
“The absence seizures are a lot more worse than the normal ones he has where he’s jolting. The absent ones can create issues … like brain damage,” his father, Glendon, explained.
The family called their pediatrician’s office and was advised to take Cayden to the Saint John Regional Hospital.
Lorissa says they were triaged by a nurse upon entering the ER and then told to wait in the children’s RAZ (rapid assessment zone) waiting room.
She recalls that after another patient left, she was alone with her son in that particular room.
“Then he started to get overwhelmed with all the seizures that he was having. So sometimes he vocal stims, and he’ll have vocal outbursts where he just screeches and it’s not really controllable,” Lorissa said.
“So he started having those and then the nurse come in and said, ‘If he can’t stop screaming, you guys will have to leave and you won’t be welcome here because he’s disrupting other patients.’”
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Lorissa says she explained to the nurse that her son can’t control the stims.
“She’s like, ‘Well then, I guess I need you guys to leave.’ So we ended up just getting up and leaving and then followed up with a doctor after.”
The parents say it feels like their son was discriminated against and they’re upset they’re being forced to fight for health care for him.
“I never thought we would ever get kicked out of an emergency room while seeking care for him,” Lorissa said.
“(It) is basically a human right that you need medical help, you go, you get the help you need. And they turned him away. So, it was sad because they were discriminating against him for being different.”
ER was at 206% capacity: Horizon Health
In a statement to Global News, Horizon Health Network said that while it could not comment on the specifics of the case due to privacy laws, it wanted to “express compassion to the child and their family during what was a distressing and difficult situation.”
Pam Power, the clinical executive director of emergency medicine and critical care, said Horizon does not deny care to any patient in the ER and follows a standardized triage protocol.
“We aim to provide compassionate, inclusive care to all patients. This includes making efforts to accommodate patients who may be non-verbal, neurodivergent, or have other communication or behavioural challenges,” she wrote.
“Staff are encouraged to offer quieter spaces when available and to work with families and caregivers to understand and support the patient’s unique needs.”
The statement goes on to say that Saint John Regional Hospital, along with the other regional hospitals, has been facing significant “capacity challenges.”
“On the date referenced, the ED inpatient occupancy at SJRH was at 206%,” she added.
Power encouraged anyone with concerns about their experiences to reach out to their patient relations department.
Lorissa showed Global News a copy of an email she sent to that department on July 15, but said she hasn’t received a reply.
She adds that in the past, when they’ve sought medical care and Cayden was experiencing vocal stims, they were given a separate room but had never been denied care before.
Meanwhile, the Kingston family hopes speaking out about their experience will enact change because ultimately, they know they have to keep going to the hospital’s ER if Cayden needs medical attention.
“In the future, I know that I would bring him back if he had to go back but the thought is still going to be in my head: ‘What if they kick us out again?”‘ Lorissa said.
“It will never be like, ‘Oh yeah, I’m confident that he’ll get the help he needs.’ I just want the people who I’ve reached out to to do something because I know that they have the power to do it.”
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