Wrong hospital patient transported to Surrey, B.C. home following discharge

Sunny Hundal and his father were awaiting a patient transfer when his wife called to inform him a man she thought was her father-in-law had arrived, but it was another man.

At least two reviews have been launched after the “wrong patient” was transported from hospital and delivered to a Surrey, B.C., home by a Fraser Health contractor in the days before Christmas.

Sunny Hundal was at Surrey Memorial Hospital on Dec. 22 awaiting patient transfer services for his elderly father, who had been discharged that morning.

Hundal said his father had experienced breathing problems Sunday evening and they called an ambulance to take him to hospital.

While he was still in the hospital hallway with his bedridden father around 6:30 p.m. Monday, Hundal said he received a call from his wife, who told him the hospital transfer ambulance had arrived at their home with a patient she initially believed was her father-in-law.

“They have somebody they are about to drop,” Hundal recalled.

Rannu Hundal told Global News via email that she had called her husband to ask why he was not at home to help get his father back into the house.

When she learned the two were still waiting at the hospital, she said she ran outside and discovered the patient unloaded onto the transport chair was not her father-in-law.

The patient, dressed in only a hospital gown and blanket on what the Hundals said was a cold and windy night, was unknown to them and appeared anxious and confused.