A friend of mine recently suffered a minor stroke. He does not have the use of his right hand. He was kept overnight at Southlake Regional hospital in Newmarket, Ontario on Tuesday, March 5th. The following morning, he was discharged without being given any medication or the option to have outpatient therapy. He also was not given discharge papers, and the nurses failed to return his cellphone, wallet, and identification. When I came to meet with him, he was extremely tired, drifting in and out of consciousness an non-communicative. He was not even provided with transportation back home. He could have collapsed while walking and further injured himself. It was an extremely cold day, had he collapsed in a low traffic area, he could have even suffered hypothermia or frozen to death. I beleive this is mainly due to his having ongoing drug problems. While this is true, he is currently in treatment through Addiction Services of York Region, and is doing his best to remain clean. This hospital has routinely treated those with substance issues as second class citizens and denied them care. It is a hospital’s duty to treat the sick to the best of their ability, not to judge who is andis not deserving of care and denying those whom they do not feel are deserving of that care.

A further example of this phenomenon is the care which I received in May of 2010. I am schizophrenic and attempted suicide because I was having relentless auditory hallucinations telling me to do so. When I was placedin the psych ward, the psychiatrist who was treating me, Dr.Ulich interviewed me for grand total of five minutes one morning, and determined that I was not suffering from any psychiatric problem. My information was faxed from CAMH in Toronto (where I did receive good care) and they persisted in not giving me any medication for over three weeks, despite my complaints of hearing voices and having very paranoid thoughts. When I voicedmy displeasure regarding my treatment, they told me I should be greatful that they had admitted me to the hospital at all. Once again, people with drug problems in the eyes of the staff at Southlake should just drop dead and make room in the hospital for more “worthy” patients. I was still completely suicidal at the time of my discharge, although they did give me a very low dose of an antipsychotic which did not alleviate my symptoms in my last week in hospital. Furthermore, the social worker (I don’t know her name, but she is plump with long wavy blonde hair and blue eyes) was going to sendme to a horrible group home up in Keswick where the patients are medicated into a stupor, or violent. When the group home owner/manager met with me, he made a point of stating I was “not as bad as they said I was” and placed me in a nicer home in Newmarket with higher functionning people. In summation, the staff at this hospital are petty, vindictive, and uncaring. They have no regard for their patients well being, and they have an obligation to give everyone equal care. I would like this matter to be looked into. Any feedback would be appreciated. My email address is princessvlada@gmail.com