BC Coroners Service and Medical Mistakes

<>News and Views

Whistleblower urges more medical inquests

News and Views By Charlie Smith

Publish Date: August 18, 2005

An ex-coroner has claimed that the public is being denied information about deaths caused by medical mistakes. Kathleen Stephany, formerly the coroner in charge of special investigations, told the Georgia Straight that this is because the office of the chief coroner won't order inquests into medical-related deaths.

Stephany said that she was fired and her former department of medical investigations, which once had 12 employees, was eliminated in 2003 with "no real justification". Since then, the Coroners Service of British Columbia hasn't ordered a single inquest into a death linked to negligence by a physician or hospital.

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In 2004, the Canadian Medical Association Journal published a report that suggested medical errors are quite commonplace. It estimated that 7.5 percent of people admitted to Canadian hospitals in 2000 suffered an "adverse event", which was defined as anything causing death, disability, or an extended hospital stay; almost 40 percent of these were preventable. The study also estimated that there were between 9,250 and 23,750 "preventable deaths" in Canadian hospitals that year.

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Whistleblowers in the News

PrimeTime Crime
Leo Knight,

Whistleblowers: Canada is not a good place to be for whistleblowers.
Media stories and reports on ethical resisters from around North America.

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Labour Environmental Alliance Society

The public needs whistleblowers

To stay informed, the public needs whistle blowers — and whistle blowers need protection in their collective agreements.

Why do they need protection?

Many employees who become aware of wrongdoing try to right the wrong by going through channels within the organization. That means they often end up reporting to the alleged wrongdoers themselves and nothing happens. If anything, the employee is cautioned not to get involved.

If, out of deep ethical or professional concern, they do “go public,” employees face the prospect of being fired or demoted. Even if they’re not fired, they can be made to feel cornered or isolated — victims of a poisoned work environment.

Unions have already provided a valuable service to society by working hard to win provisions in collective agreement that protect people from sexual and racial harassment. Now we need the same kind of protection for whistleblowers.

When an employee has gone through all the internal channels without resolution, the collective agreement should provide for a third party process, such as arbitration.

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Whistle-blower protection in BC

Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act of BC

[RSBC 1996] CHAPTER 165

Part 3 — Protection of Privacy

Division 1 — Collection, Protection and Retention of Personal Information by Public Bodies

Whistle-blower protection

30.3 An employer, whether or not a public body, must not dismiss, suspend, demote, discipline, harass or otherwise disadvantage an employee of the employer, or deny that employee a benefit, because

(a) the employee, acting in good faith and on the basis of reasonable belief, has notified the minister responsible for this Act under section 30.2,

(b) the employee, acting in good faith and on the basis of reasonable belief, has disclosed to the commissioner that the employer or any other person has contravened or is about to contravene this Act,

(c) the employee, acting in good faith and on the basis of reasonable belief, has done or stated an intention of doing anything that is required to be done in order to avoid having any person contravene this Act,

(d) the employee, acting in good faith and on the basis of reasonable belief, has refused to do or stated an intention of refusing to do anything that is in contravention of this Act, or

(e) the employer believes that an employee will do anything described in paragraph (a), (b), (c) or (d).

Whistleblower Articles

Coroner Whistleblowers Rebuffed by Les: Solicitor General rejects concerns by Committee for Competent Death Reviews.

Quentin Dodd and David Beers, (February 10, 2006). Tyee.ca

Don't Shoot the Whistleblower: Our early warning system for scandals fails because sounding alarms is too risky. Let's change that.

By Mitchell Anderson, (March 1, 2004). Tyee.ca

Whistleblower legislation Bill C-25, Disclosure Protection

Wednesday, March 31 2004 @ 06:00 AM PST

The Liberal government introduced Bill C-25 - the Disclosure Protection legislation commonly known as "whistleblower" legislation - in March 2004. The bill was introduced in response to the sponsorship scandal in which the auditor general accused the government of squandering $100 million in bogus payments to several Quebec advertising firms that allegedly did little or no work for the money.

The proposed law, introduced by Privy Council President Denis Coderre, is intended to protect people who speak out about problems in the government's bureaucracy. The proposed legislation says that it is "part of the government's broader commitment to ensure transparency, accountability, financial responsibility and ethical conduct." It's the first time bureaucrats have been offered legal protection against reprisals for reporting government wrongdoing.

Complaints will be investigated by the public service integrity commissioner, who in turn will report to a cabinet minister and not directly to Parliament. The commissioner will also make recommendations on corrective measures.

Bill C-25, which covers all federal public sector workers and Crown corporation employees, requires heads of federal organizations to establish an internal disclosure mechanism. It calls for a code of conduct and is intended to provide protections in law from reprisals.

Whistleblower legislation is not extended to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, the Communications Security Establishment and uniformed members of the RCMP or the Armed Forces. These agencies are required to create a similar code of conduct and reprisal protection for employees.

Whistleblower Quotes

We need whistleblowers. They keep our institutions honest. From Enron, to Walkerton, to the intelligence failures around 9-11, whistleblowers have made a huge contribution to informing the public and fighting corruption and incompetence. It is time the Canada joined other developed nations of the world and gave whistleblowers the strong legal protection they deserve.

Mitchell Anderson, Published: March 1, 2004, Tyee.ca

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"Accounting scandals, interference in scientific research, environmental cover-ups... From Enron to BC's fish farm, whistleblower protections are needed to keep governments and corporations accountable. Why are there so few protections for people who find the courage to speak out in the public interest?"
From promotional material for the March 27, 2003 Whistleblower Public Forum at the Vancouver Public Library sponsored by the BC Office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives

Welcome

Welcome to our new blog, Whistleblowers BC. We are looking forward to providing resources, media reports and opportunities for those in the Whistleblower community in BC and Canada. Yes, that's right, there are many individuals and groups that make up this community and network of courageous, dedicated ethical resisters and iconoclasts (aka Whistleblowers) out there.

It is our goal to create this blog to help and support those of us who are committed to exposing injustice, corruption and mismanagement wherever it can be found, no matter the cost to ourselves, and we know there are costs to being the ones in the White hats. This is a citizen driven organization. We are not lawyers, nor can we represent people., or give people legal advice. However we can offer grassroots advice and support based on personal experience, knowledge of labor relations, government, private sector and community involvement, and information gained from research and literature on Whistleblowing, or ethical resistance.

Should you be interested, or in need of help, or have information you would like to disclose, but are unsure of how to go about this, or whether to do so, we may be able to help. For more information, you can e-mail us at: whistleblowersBC@gmail.com

We hold confidentiality sacred, as well as anonymonity as we recognize the harm that can befall those who do the right thing and disclose information of wrongdoing.

Keep the Faith and Trust Yourself.