May 9, 2023
The Lower Mainland’s medical community is stunned after receiving an urgent memo from a highly-respected doctor about Langley Memorial Hospital’s emergency department – saying it is near collapse and patients should be discouraged from going there.
CTV News has obtained the email, written by Dr. Jeff Plante and sent to physicians across Fraser Health late Friday afternoon, describing very sick patients warehoused in the emergency department for days since there aren’t enough physicians in the wards to care for new people.
“I would like to urge you to advise your patients to, if at all possible, bypass Langley Memorial Hospital for any acute, urgent medical needs effective immediately,” he wrote, saying he’d never seen emergency doctors so overrun with patients.
“The situation is dire and near catastrophic,” Plante went on to write. “Their department is near collapse under the weight of the current crisis. The situation is unsafe for physicians and patients alike.”