Man Questions COVID Reporting After Mother’s Death

Days after his mother died at a Saint John nursing home, a New Brunswick man still has more questions than answers.

Joan Davis, a resident of the Tucker Hall nursing home at Shannex Parkland Saint John, died on Jan. 21 at the age of 79.

Davis had spent the past several days being treated in the COVID unit after testing positive for the virus, according to her son, Peter Lewis.

But Lewis said he was stunned to learn the doctor who signed his mother’s death certificate listed her cause of death as cancer.

“My mom was in the COVID unit, she was diagnosed with COVID, she died in a COVID bed, why wasn’t COVID-19 the thing that killed her?” Lewis said in a phone interview Monday from his Rothesay home.

COVID Diagnosis In Early January

Davis had been living in Lily Court, a dementia unit at the nursing home, where a COVID-19 outbreak began earlier in January.

While Lewis said his mother did have stomach cancer, she had been doing well until her COVID diagnosis.

“She was still able to walk through the unit, communicate with people, use her cell phone,” he said. “The nurses were just amazed that somebody with dementia was able to use a cell phone, which she certainly was able to do.”

But Davis’ health took a turn for the worst about five or six days after her diagnosis, said Lewis.

“She went from being fully functional, able to talk, to not being able to talk, not being able to communicate, not being able to swallow, not being able to eat, basically within hours becoming bedridden,” he said.

“After four days, the charge nurse at Shannex and myself had to make a decision on what was best for mom and the quality of her life. We decided that it was best probably to let her go.”

Death Deemed Non-COVID-Related

Lewis first learned that his mother’s death would not be considered COVID-related during a phone call with the vice-president of Shannex just hours after her passing.

On Sunday, Lewis received a call from the physician who signed his mother’s death certificate to inform him she died of cancer, not COVID-19.

That same day, Shannex announced that two residents of Lily Court who previously tested positive for COVID had died on Jan. 21 and 22, but did not say whether their deaths were related to the virus.

During a COVID-19 briefing on Monday, chief medical health officer Dr. Jennifer Russell confirmed two deaths at Parkland Saint John, but only referred to one of them as COVID-related.

Lewis said, to his knowledge, health officials are still treating his mother’s death as non-COVID-related. He said he believes his mother would still be alive today had she not contracted the virus.

“In the eight days that mom was in the COVID unit and she was dying, not once did any nurse ever tell me her cancer was going to kill her, it was always COVID. The COVID’s grabbing ahold, the COVID’s turning on your mom, she’s starting to have lung issues, she’s starting to have a rattle in her chest,” he said, adding some of the nurses were “shocked” to hear about his mother’s official cause of death.

“To deteriorate that quickly really was unsettling with me. Yes, she had stomach cancer, and yes she was gonna die … but no cancer doctor could ever give us any timeline on my mom and when she was gonna pass.”

Lewis said he does not agree with the physician’s determination and questioned how they came to their conclusion.

He pointed to several recent deaths of COVID patients at Tucker Hall where Public Health determined the residents died “as a result of underlying complications, including COVID-19.”

“Mom had underlying health issues, just like every other elderly person between 70 and 95,” said Lewis.

“I’m a family member, I’m looking at the Shannex, I’m saying ‘are they trying to keep their numbers down? Are they trying to keep COVID deaths out of the news?’ That’s the impression that I have.”

Province, Shannex Respond

When asked if the province has been misrepresenting COVID deaths, New Brunswick’s health minister said there is absolutely no skewing of data.

“It’s a really difficult time for families, and I appreciate that, but there’s absolutely no reason for Public Health to not be upfront as much as possible and have been with this,” Dorothy Shephard said during Monday’s briefing.  “There is no coverup.”

The province’s top doctor said there are a number of protocols in place around defining a COVID-related death.

Dr. Jennifer Russell said in people with multiple underlying conditions, there are several factors which could contribute to their death.

“The timeline between when they test positive and their death, were there symptoms, were those symptoms exacerbating already underlying medical conditions that they had,” said Russell. “There’s a lot of complex assessment that has to take place.”

Russell said the decision around whether someone’s death is attributable to COVID is a collaboration between the attending physicians and Public Health.

For its part, Shannex said it makes every effort to communicate openly, accurately and in a timely manner with its residents, families and employees.

“We understand and appreciate the families’ concerns and through conversation with them, yesterday we made the decision to move forward and share the news with our own community of residents, families and employees followed by posting to our website,” spokesperson Isabelle Landry said in a statement Monday.

“We will do more in the future to pay tribute to those we have lost, in a way that is appropriate.”