Disciplinary hearings for two healthcare workers in relation to the December 2020 death of an Indigenous woman at the Hanna Health Centre have been postponed until March 2023, and the widower is asking the College of Registered Nurses of Alberta (CRNA) for answers.
The hearings, which were originally scheduled to begin on Monday, September 12 in relation to the death of Lillian Vanasse, who was of Ojibway Indigenous descent, were postponed until March 2023 only two weeks before the set hearing dates; Ms. Vanasse’s widower Cory Ashley has yet to be told the reason for this postponement.
“I have requested, four times now, why have both (hearings) been postponed, and I still have not received a valid reason,” says Cory Ashley, Ms. Vanasse’s widower. “They (CRNA) keep replying that it is a privacy issue, and because it is a privacy issue they are not obligated to tell me.”
It is alleged Ms. Vanasse did not receive adequate care while at the Hanna Health Care Centre, where she was transported by ambulance on the evening of Christmas 2020, due to systemic racism.
This lack of care is alleged to have ultimately led to Ms. Vanasse’s death while in hospital in the early morning hours of December 26, 2020.
Mr. Ashley filed a complaint with the CRNA against the two healthcare workers in the days following his wife’s death and now, nearly two years later, is still waiting for answers.
A representative from CRNA told the Mail, “We do not publicly share information about registrants under, or being considered for investigation. It is not uncommon that in complex cases that the parties involved agree to a future hearing date (adjournment).”
The hearings for the two healthcare workers are scheduled for March 6 to March 10, 2023 and March 20 to March 24, 2023.
