Northern Health has cleared itself of any wrongdoing following an incident that left an elderly man with significant bruises.
Northern Health finished an internal investigation launched after 82-year-old Calvin Courtoreille and his family lodged a complaint against a nurse's aide at Jubilee Lodge.
According to Courtoreille, the employee struck him on the arms on June 8 in an attempt to make him let go of the bedside railing to which he was clinging. He alleges that she then lowered the railing with his arm still inserted between the bars.
"It's concluded that there was no evidence that an assault took place and that the resident's injuries were caused accidentally," said Northern Health spokesperson Eryn Collins. "No disciplinary action [will be taken] because this appears, from our investigation, to have been an unfortunate accident."
Despite the health authority's findings, the family is still pushing ahead with trying to find justice and will be meeting with lawyers next week, said Courtoreille's niece Leona Esau.
"We really don't think it was an accident," Esau said. "Everybody figures it was done deliberately and so does [my] uncle."
Northern Health's investigation was conducted by the local director of community and residential services.
According to Collins, an investigation of this nature would typically involve interviews with the resident or patient, their family, staff involved, other staff on duty and any other patients or residents who may have witnessed or have information about the incident.
"It's a pretty thorough look at what may have taken place and in this case there was no evidence found that there was any intentional harm done," Collins said.
The family has been advised of the findings and there have been discussions around ways to prevent things like this from happening again, she added.
According to Esau, some of those changes include always having two employees in the patient rooms at a time and keeping doors open. The employee in question is still working in the ward, but is apparently no longer allowed in Courtoreille's room, which Esau said her uncle wasn't happy with.
"He really figures she's going to retaliate. He's still pretty upset about it," she said, adding lodge staff will be meeting with family this week for further discussion.
"I would reiterate that we do take the concerns of our residents and patients and their families very seriously and are concerned any time something like this is brought to our attention," Collins said. "And of course, especially in the case of something that is accidental and potentially could be prevented in the future, then that's absolutely our focus - to prevent any future incidents."
A separate investigation by the Prince George RCMP is still ongoing.
