Deathable deaths, violent attacks: Doctor accused of deteriorating situation in Fraser Health Hospitals

An emergency room doctor is whistling on deteriorating conditions in hospitals managed by BC’s Fraser Health Authority – claiming that he was in danger after his job and other doctors demanded a warning to patients about the potentially dangerous situation.

Kettlelin Stockton has worked in emergency rooms at the Royal Columbian Hospital and Eagle Ridge Hospital in New Westminster since October 2017, where she claims a rapid decline in the last two years that “rapid and substandard patient care” has occurred.

She was sitting with CBC News to fulfill the detailed concerns in the trial-including the alleged rejection of the Health Authority to implement a massive casualties after an alleged attack at the Lapu-Lapu Day Festival in Vancouver.

“Patients are falling through the crack and will keep falling through the crack until anything changes,” she says.

“Knowing that you are not providing a standard of care to someone that needs it, it is a terrible feeling, it’s not how I was trained, and it is not that it is not worth patients.”

A terrible innings

Stockton filed a notice of civil claim against the Fraser Health Authority in the BC Supreme Court last week, demanding $ 500,000 for incorrectly dismissal, and what he claims that he is “high-hand, proud and contempt” behavior.

The lawsuit portrays a picture of a toxic work environment, where burnt medical professional patients tolerate violent attacks and are afraid of reprimanding to speak publicly.

Stockton says that her concern about the collapse of the system now removes the fear of speaking.

CBC News has observed a letter signed by emergency chamber physicians in 50 BC stating that they support Stockton’s “dedication to advocate for high quality patient care”. They also ask for transparency and accountability from Fraser Health, also to improve the emergency care system and say they need a workplace that is “free from psychological losses.”

While the letter stated that doctors are not commenting on specific allegations in Stockton’s trial, it says that they support their right to carry out legal action against Fraser Health.

Fraser Health told CBC News that it does not comment on cases that are in front of the courts.

In a written response CBC News, BC Health Minister Josi Osborne also said that she could not comment on the nuances of the case as it was in front of the courts.

“Speaking more generally, it is necessary that health care workers in the province feel that they can increase the concerns of their employers,” Osborne said.

“It is fundamental to hear directly from frontline workers because we work together to strengthen public health care in BC”

According to Stockton’s trial, his experience ended in a shift on November 18, 2024, when he and other medical staff chose to warn the patients that the emergency room at the Eagle Ridge Hospital was reaching a braking point.

Stockton says that as her innings rose, the situation became “wildly insecure” as the patients spread to the hallway and packed the waiting room.

On the shift, the doctors arrived for a series of senior leaders, demanding several measures, asking for several measures to take patients in various areas of the hospital, cancel alternative surgery and remove ambulances.

But those requests were allegedly rejected.

With situations in ER spilling, the lawsuit claims that doctors made a plan. With the approval of the head of a local department, Stockton and their colleagues decided to post a sign warning patients, low on hospital resources and patients requiring care would have to face long delays, the lawsuit.

Sanket called waiting time “unacceptable” and urged patients to contact the provincial government.

“The signs were shared by the patients on social media, and two news outlets ran a story about the signal,” the trial said.

“Instead of reflecting and taking time to reflect and take accountability to their inaction, which eventually contributed to a serious patient to a serious patient among the employees working on that day, (Health Authority) issued a press statement, which is called” wrong. “

Officer ‘extremely angry’

The trial alleges that Fraser Health signed Stockton’s CCTV footage, he used it to “single out, threatened and threaten.

She claims that she was told that the Fraser Health Officer was “extremely angry” about the signal and “he was actually trying to make Dr. Stockton accountable for it.”

Stockton claims that the Medical Director of Eagle Ridge Hospital threatened to cancel the privileges of his hospital and file a complaint against him if he did not forgive for doing wrong.

The case alleged that Stockton was fired through “creative dismissal” – when an employer’s action forces an employee to resign.

Stockton claims that no questions were asked about the situation in the emergency room, which took action by doctors.

Instead, he was told that there was “no right” to indicate him.

“It is extremely common, it happens all the time. It is for nurses and physicians, and that is why the public is not true about what is happening in our publicly funded hospitals in our emergency rooms,” she says.

“Even when we collectively begged and requested for help, no one was given. We realized that they are looking at patients in the waiting room, even though we were asking for help.”

‘One of the dreams where you are shouting for help’

The lawsuit also claims that Fraser Health has failed to respond to the calls to help the doctors and sought to silence the employees who talked about the conditions.

For example, it says that the Health Authority sent struggles and desired letters to doctors in 2023 and asked for more transparency around the crowd in emergency rooms and on another occasion, examined and examined a nurse, who advocated better safety protocol after a patient attacked by a mother.

The most high-profile example was reportedly on 26 April, allegedly Lapu-Lapu Day Festival Attack in VancouverWhich killed 11 people and injured dozens more.

Royal Columbian Hospital – One of the two dedicated special trauma centers at BC – was reportedly reported “They would receive 10 seriously injured patients.”

The lawsuit said, “Knowing that it will overwhelm the resources already spread in the hospital, doctors working at the time request that the hospital administrator activates a code Orange.”

A code Orange is a protocol that allows emergency rooms to immediately respond to the disaster and large -scale casualties by bringing additional personnel to empty patients in other areas of the hospital and help additional personnel with trying.

The lawsuit claims that Fraser Health rejected the request of a code Orange.

Stockton told CBC News that he feared that if the change does not apply, a lower standard of care would be normal.

“It sounds like one of the dreams where you are screaming for help but no sound is coming.

“At first you become really angry, but after a while, after seeing the same thing again and again, you just get frustrated.”

‘Extremely insecure for patients’

The lawsuit states that working in two hospitals is “unpleasant, unhappy and extremely unsafe” for patients – sometimes there is loss of life.

The notice of the Civil Claim states, “Many patients have been initiated due to severe, preventive losses, including congestion -related deaths.”

“Hospitals are now regularly working with four to six unfilled emergency doctors shift per day,” it reads. It alleges that the waiting time has gone to the sky, “Now regularly has reached 10–14 hours.”

The lawsuit also claims that there has been a series of violent incidents in hospitals.

In January 2025, A Manner Eagle entered the emergency room at Ridge Hospital and threatened a nurse.

In separate attacks, the lawsuit claims that patients have strangled, kicked and attacked those who have faced a jaw, infiltration and broken ribs.

A large pit bull was also allegedly allowed in the emergency room of the Eagle Ridge Hospital for hours in April, attacked a doctor and cut off his arm.

“These incidents are so common that they are normalized and rarely accepted by FHA management and leadership,” the suit alleged.

A June 2025 report The Montreal Economic Institute found that Eagle Ridge Hospital has the longest emergency room waiting time among Metro Vancouver Hospitals at Ridge Hospital.

According to a report published in Canadian Journal of Emergency Medicine, long waiting time in Emergency Rooms in Canada contribute to thousands of deaths per year.

Stockton says, “Patients are waiting for care. In my experience, and in the experience of my colleagues, it is happening in BC,” Stockton says, which combines the frontline staff’s efforts.

“Our emergency system is failing, and front-line providers are not allowed to talk about it.”