Crossposted with the Manitoba Indigenous Tuberculosis History Project (MITHP)
Anti-racism researchers support Justin Flett seeking justice for case of callous negligence in which denied and delayed healthcare caused bodily harm and long-term complications
On the night of 14 January 2023, Justin Flett, 44, was experiencing symptoms of appendicitis and early the next morning sought care at St. Anthony’s Hospital, the Pas Emergency Room. Over the next 37 hours, Flett’s condition worsened while staff of the Northern and Winnipeg Regional Health Authorities failed to prioritize, assess, relieve, and treat him as having a serious medical condition assuming, despite evidence to the contrary, that Flett was hungover. Flett undertook a harrowing trip from the Pas to Winnipeg to seek alternative medical care, lying in pain on the floor at the back of a bus because it hurt too much to sit or stand. Even in Winnipeg, however, delays in care and hospital transfer meant that when he was finally treated, his appendix had burst, and infection had spread, causing a surgical intervention that has left him with a range of complications.
Healthcare was denied and delayed by staff who consistently refused to see Justin Flett as a person in medical distress needing and deserving of treatment. Much like Brian Sinclair, the Anishinaabe resident of Winnipeg who died in 2008 after being ignored for 34 hours at Winnipeg’s Health Sciences Centre, staff assumed Flett was intoxicated, hungover, and homeless. For both, these racist assumptions led to cruel and substandard treatment. Flett’s main medical provider at St. Anthony’s Hospital and the Regional Health Authorities most responsible for providing care to Flett remain convinced they did nothing wrong.
All Manitobans deserve culturally safe, timely, professional, ethical and appropriate care applied with skill and diligence. For Justin Flett, care was deliberately and negligently withheld and delayed because Health Authority staff relied on racist assumptions rather than their own policies and procedures regarding patient triage and care.
We thank and support Justin Flett and his family who have taken on the costly, lengthy, and difficult work of documenting his experience and its impacts on his life and seeking the enforcement of laws that protect citizens from such grievous breaches of duty. In documenting indifference, confronting individuals and systems, and challenging deeply ingrained biases, Flett is advocating for and honouring all who have experienced anti-Indigenous racism in healthcare, and he is courageously holding the Manitoban health care system accountable.
Contact Info:
Mary Jane McCallum, Canada Research Chair in Indigenous People, History and Archives, Professor, Department of History and Director, Manitoba Indigenous Tuberculosis History Project,University of Winnipeg – m.mccallum@uwinnipeg.ca
Josée G. Lavoie, Professor, Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Manitoba – josee.lavoie@umanitoba.ca
Erin Millions – Manitoba Indigenous Tuberculosis History Project, Department of History, University of Winnipeg – e.millions@uwinnipeg.ca
Adele Perry, Director, Centre for Human Rights Research and Distinguished Professor, History and Women’s and Gender Studies, University of Manitoba, Adele.Perry@umanitoba.ca
Annette J. Browne, Professor & Distinguished University Scholar, School of Nursing, University of British Columbia annette.browne@ubc.ca
Christa Big Canoe, Legal Director and Emily Hill, Senior Staff Lawyer, Aboriginal Legal Services, christa.bigcanoe@als.clcj.ca and emily.hill@als.clcj.ca
