Dr. Chris Milburn certainly caught the public’s attention.
In a commentary published Nov. 16, the Sydney, N.S.-based emergency room physician expressed his experience and fears about dealing with the “criminal element.”
“Through my 20 years working in emergency departments, people have taken a swing at me, I’ve had my shirt ripped off, and I’ve been spit on numerous times. I have been told ‘I know where you live’ (probably true in our small community) and physically threatened.”
Milburn submitted the piece to the Chronicle Herald after two Halifax special constables were convicted of criminal negligence causing the death of a man in custody.
He wanted to add his perspective as an ER doc.
He said they are seeing more people who've been involved in altercations than in the past. Policy in Nova Scotia, he explained, now mandates that if police have medical concerns about someone they arrest, the suspect is brought to emergency for “medical clearance.”
“It is the patients who are too violent, refuse to be honest, and are the most wild-behaving and impaired that have to be brought to the ED for ‘clearance.’ This means that screaming, spitting, potentially dangerous people are now brought to ERs for doctors, nurses and support staff to deal with. It is much too dangerous for a blood collector or nurse to approach the patient with a needle, as this puts patient and staff at great risk for injury.”
Milburn expressed his fears.
“One day, one of these criminals will have taken a drug, or drug combination, that will kick in later. He will have swallowed a baggie of cocaine that will later explode and cause an overwhelming overdose. One of these times, my luck will run out … Then they will come for me.”
He called for systemic change, saying the current policy places “unreasonable demands on health care and justice, taxing already strapped systems.”
“Blaming those of us who try so hard to protect the public (and the individual himself) from dangerous criminal behaviour is destructive to our future direction as a society. Maintaining that the criminal himself is primarily responsible makes it more likely that we will see a decrease in this type of behaviour.”
As of 9 a.m. Sunday morning, 296,712 people had viewed Milburn’s commentary online.
And, collectively, those readers spent a total of 469,986 minutes reading it — that’s 7,833.1 hours!
The piece has generated lots of discussions. It has also prompted letters and commentary from people who agreed with him and people who didn’t.
Some of the latter said Milburn’s submission dehumanized patients.
Wherever you fall on what he said, Milburn sparked an important discussion and introduced the public to concerns they may not have considered.
It shows the real value of the opinion section, that it’s a forum for people to express fears about an issue they feel is wrong or to trumpet something that’s going right.
I hope that Milburn’s piece prompts decision-makers to pause and see if there’s a way to make the system or policy better for all — patient, physician and police.
If there’s no such remedy, at least they considered the issue.
I also hope Milburn’s commentary prompts others to share their systemic or societal concerns through the opinion sections of our newspapers and websites.
Fostering such discussions and provoking thought to make our communities better are important parts of what we do.
Steve Bartlett is senior managing editor of SaltWire Network. Reach him at [email protected].
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- DR. CHRIS MILBURN: 'Criminal element' sent to ER puts docs in dicey spot
- DR. ARUNA DHARA & DR. LEAH GENGE: Patients need care, not condemnation
- CHRISTINE COOPER: Memo to Dr. Milburn — people in crisis no less worthy
- LETTERS: 'Criminal element' in ER — readers react to Sydney doctor
- MARYN MARSLAND & ALEX STRANG: Blaming patients unseemly — criminal behaviour often a byproduct of social ills
