On Nov. 18, 20-year-old Rowan Hamilton was taken to Surrey Memorial Hospital (SMH) with several severe symptoms — shortness of breath, tachycardia on standing, chest tightness, among others — that appeared to be worsening.
His family says he was sent home with antibiotics for an illness he wasn’t tested for.
The next day, the man collapsed at work. An ambulance came and brought him to New Westminster’s Royal Columbian Hospital (RCH), where doctors conducted tests and found he had blood clots in his lungs and an enlarged heart.
A day later, Rowan died. A CT scan showed he had suffered from catastrophic brain failure.
The family of 20-year-old Rowan Hamilton, who died after visiting the ER, calls for change. (Submitted)
His father, Justin Hamilton, says that had the doctors, nurses, and other frontline emergency workers not been completely inundated and overworked, tragedy could have been avoided.
“Had his doctors spent more time with him, they probably would have run the correct test to find the things that were really wrong in that situation, 24 hours before Rowan was absolutely critical,” he said.
Now, Rowan’s family is speaking out, sharing his story, and, above all, calling for changes to how the province is dealing with an overwhelmed emergency-care system.
Demonstration for systemic change
On Nov. 29, Rowan’s family and supporters held a demonstration near SMH to share his story and push for action.
Justin stresses the goal is not to target frontline workers. Rather, it is to advocate for improvements that could help prevent other families from having to go through this loss.
“The awareness we’re trying to bring is to hopefully see a little bit of change with our health-care system, regardless of whether it’s the Surrey Memorial Hospital, Vancouver General, Royal Columbian, whatever hospital it is,” Justin said.
The family of 20-year-old Rowan Hamilton, who died after visiting the ER, calls for change. (Submitted)
One of the things the family is calling on B.C. Health Minister Josie Osborne and the Fraser Health Authority for is “ongoing education for doctors, so they are better at dealing with…each symptom a patient is coming through with.”
But it isn’t just health-care workers who need more education, he says. They are asking the government to create awareness plans for the public, “so the public has a better idea of what an emergency room is, when we use it, when we don’t use it, when maybe you use urgent care instead,” Justin said.
“Really, really simple things to try to get that bottleneck out of the emergency rooms.”
As well, he says, more public education is needed on how to self-advocate while navigating the provincial health-care system.
‘A better man than I am’
The Hamiltons say they have received overwhelmingly positive support from the community. Justin says they have had people reach out to them from all over the province, from as far away as Prince George, saying they have had similar experiences.
Justin says his son played football for more than a decade, and his teammates have shared stories of what type of person Rowan was.
20-year-old Rowan Hamilton played football for more than a decade. (Submitted)
“They’ve reached out to us en masse, and the messages that they’ve been sending me have not been condolences, you know, ‘Sorry for your loss,’” he said.
“All the messages have been, ‘He was such a good guy, he went the extra mile to make everybody feel comfortable and welcome.’”
This has felt inspiring, Justin says.
“Rowan was just such a good guy, he was kind, not because he wanted anything in return,” he said. “It was just his nature.”
“He was a better man than I, and he’s giving me a bar to hold myself to.”
Third-party investigations
Justin says his family trusts that Fraser Health is conducting an investigation into what happened.
But he says, in the future, maybe this could be done differently.
“One of the points we’re asking for is the province to consider third-party investigations when it comes to these kinds of things,” he said.
“Having the health-care authorities for each region responsible for investigating themselves is a little conflicting, in our opinion.”
Response from Surrey Memorial Hospital
Dr. Marietta Van Den Berg, site medical director at Surrey Memorial Hospital, sends condolences to the family and says the hospital respects their right to gather and mourn.
“We appreciate our staff and medical staff for their professionalism, compassion, and continued focus on patient care during sensitive moments such as this, and we acknowledge the profound impact this has had on them as well,” Van Den Berg said in a statement to CityNews.
“Though we will not speak to the specifics of an individual patient’s care journey, I can share that we are conducting a thorough, formal joint review at Surrey Memorial Hospital and Royal Columbian Hospital of this patient’s care with Fraser Health.”
She says Rowan’s family has been in touch with Fraser Health.
Moving forward
Saturday’s demonstration was scheduled for 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Surrey Memorial Hospital.
Meanwhile, his family will move forward and continue to push for change.
“What happened to Rowan was avoidable and preventable,” Justin said. “He should still be with us.”
— With files from David Nadalini.
Editor’s note: this article was updated to include a response from Surrey Memorial Hospital.