An Error in Judgement

by Dara Culhane, Dara Culhane Speck

On January 22, 1979, an eleven-year-old Native girl died of a ruptured appendix in an Alert Bay, B.C. hospital. The events that followed are chronicled here by Dara Culhane Speck, a member by marriage of the Nimpkish Indian Band in Alert Bay. She has relied mainly on interviews, anecdotes and public records to describe how this small, isolated Native community took on the local hospital, the College of Physicians and Surgeons, provincial and federal ministries of health and national media, because their private tragedy held implications that reached far beyond one child, one physician, one town and even one century.

280 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

Reviews

[Jenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I appreciated this look into an event I was not aware of; of a place I did not fully understand.

[Bailey Olfert · Rating 2 out of 5]

This account of the events following a needless death in Alert Bay is an admirable attempt to deal with the mindbogglingly complex issues of medical care, autonomy, colonialism, racism, and so much more.