{"id":791702,"date":"2026-07-10T00:52:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T00:52:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/791702\/"},"modified":"2026-07-10T00:52:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T00:52:19","slug":"oshawa-senior-speaks-out-after-being-being-discharged-from-hospital-to-a-motel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/791702\/","title":{"rendered":"Oshawa senior speaks out after being being discharged from hospital to a motel"},"content":{"rendered":"

An elderly hospital patient says she was pushed out of a hospital before she had fully recovered and sent to a hotel. Beth Macdonell explains. <\/p>\n

An elderly woman is speaking out after being discharged from a hospital in Oshawa to a motel in Bowmanville, Ont., following a lengthy hospital stay.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was shocked. I thought it was a dive,\u201d Dorothy Spulnick, 82, told CTV News Toronto on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Spulnick, who lives with severe COPD, said after spending more than six weeks at Lakeridge Health Oshawa in May and June, and with no home of her own, she was discharged to Liberty Inn in Bowmanville, Ont. <\/p>\n

She said the hospital put her in a taxi to meet a personal support worker at the motel along with medication and oxygen for two days. Spulnick said she arrived there without meals or shoes. <\/p>\n

\"\"Liberty Inn, Bowmanville An outside shot of Liberty Inn in Bowmanville. <\/p>\n

\u201cHow can they do this to anybody? It\u2019s very \u2026 I don\u2019t know. It\u2019s so selfish and mean, to think they treat people my age, this way,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Spulnick\u2019s family said they weren\u2019t even notified about her discharge and an agency brought in to advocate on her behalf received the news in a letter. <\/p>\n

Spulnick no longer needed treatment: hospital<\/p>\n

A letter from Lakeridge Health to Spulnick that was shared with CTV News Toronto indicated she no longer needed treatment and the physician discharged her on June 17, before being taken to the inn on June 25. <\/p>\n

The letter went on to say that Spulnick \u201crefused\u201d to leave the hospital and didn\u2019t \u201cmeaningfully participate in discharge planning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spulnick, however, said she did not feel ready or well enough to leave the hospital.<\/p>\n

\"\"Lakeridge Health Oshawa hospital Lakeridge Health Oshawa hospital is pictured. <\/p>\n

The woman\u2019s family, meanwhile, says the hospital network wasn\u2019t helpful in getting their loved one on the crisis list for long-term care, adding they couldn\u2019t safely bring her home because her care needs had become too complex.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you have an 82-year-old who needs oxygen management, I don\u2019t think a hotel is an option for that. That to me is insane,\u201d Spulnick\u2019s daughter Tammy Vandersanden said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey cannot care for themselves. I get if you\u2019re having a patient who is capable of movement (or) breathing fine, not someone in her situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Tammy Vandersanden Dorothy Spulnick’s daughter Tammy Vandersanden is pictured. <\/p>\n

In the end, Spulnick never stayed at the Bowmanville motel and travelled to the hospital in Cobourg for care. <\/p>\n

With various help secured, she\u2019s now been added to the crisis list for long-term care and is staying with family until a permanent place is secured. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m speaking out because I don\u2019t it\u2019s fair the way they are treating seniors. I think it\u2019s disgusting. It really is,\u201d Spulnick said.<\/p>\n

Patients can be discharged to temporary accommodations: Lakeridge Health<\/p>\n

CTV News Toronto asked Lakeridge Health how many times in the last five years patients have been sent to hotels or motels. It said it was unable to provide the exact number, but said there have been instances where temporary accommodations, like hotels, have been identified as the most appropriate discharge destination. The health system cited privacy laws as the reason it couldn\u2019t specifically comment on Spulnick\u2019s case.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe safety and wellbeing of our patients is our highest priority. Discharge planning is an individualized process LED by the patient\u2019s interprofessional care team in collaboration with the patient, family members, and caregivers, where appropriate,\u201d Lakeridge Health said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cDecisions about discharge are based on each patient\u2019s clinical needs, with the care team working alongside community partners to support a coordinated transition to the most appropriate care setting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ontario Minister of Health\u2019s office responds<\/p>\n

CTV News Toronto also reached out to the Ontario Minister of Health\u2019s office for reaction to a patient being discharged to a motel.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur government expects all hospitals to provide the safe, high-quality care patients deserve and to fully meet their obligations under the Public Hospitals Act. This includes having a patient relations process in place to address patient and caregiver concerns,\u201d it said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a clinical decision, made by a healthcare professional, to discharge a patient and determine the services they require following discharge. The Ministry of Health is not involved in these decisions.\u201d <\/p>\n

The statement added that concerns about professional conduct can be reported to various regulatory colleges, which are responsible for investigating complaints.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An elderly hospital patient says she was pushed out of a hospital before she had fully recovered and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":791703,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[712,49,48,44],"class_list":["post-791702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-apple-news","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/791702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=791702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/791702\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/791703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=791702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=791702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=791702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}