2010 coroner’s investigation raised questions over Thunder Bay hospital’s discharge practices – CBC

Managers had told coroner that hospital would develop strategy for discharge of at-risk patients

Nov 18, 2019

A coroner’s investigation raised questions about the Thunder Bay hospital’s discharge practices for vulnerable patients almost 10 years before a 19-year-old First Nations man was found dead hours after he was discharged, CBC News has learned.

According to an Ontario coroner’s report into a 2009 Thunder Bay death, Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre managers met with the coroner and a family member of the deceased in 2010 and said the hospital would come up with a communication strategy to deal with at-risk discharged patients “to ensure a safe return home.”

The hospital’s discharge practices are again under question following the death of the 19-year-old First Nations man in September. His body was found hours after his discharge, less than a kilometre from the hospital in a secluded area of the Lakehead University campus. The death is a suspected suicide.

Read More: https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/kenneth-berg-coroner-report-thunder-bay-hospital-1.5360259