Halifax surgery cancellations has 'taken a lot of people down'

A nurse who worked at the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre in Halifax for 25 years says officials aren't doing enough to remedy their sterilization troubles after her mother's surgery was postponed.

Carolyn Collins was prepared for her mother, Elizabeth Collins, to have a tumour in her lung removed last Thursday. However, they were told by the hospital the surgery would be postponed due to a mysterious black dust that gathered on surgical tools during the sterilization process.

"They said that it would be postponed, and they would call us in a couple of days. They figured they would have the situation figured out," she said.

But, more than a week after the black substance was found, there are more questions than answers.

Hundreds of elective surgeries have been postponed, and the backlog is growing each day. Collins says this is putting a burden on families waiting on surgery for their loved ones.

"This has taken a lot of people down. It's taken our family down," she said.

The hospital says it's still working to find the cause of the problem. What they know now is that the black powder is metallic in nature. But this is little consolation to those affected.

"They need to put plans in place," Collins says. "Everything, eventually, is going to fail. They should have that updated, they should have systems in place."

Everton McLean, a spokesperson for Capital Health, says a report on powder should arrive "any day now," and is expected to reveal what the source of the black substance is.

But he added that the next couple of days can be expected to proceed much like that rest of the week, with most elective surgeries being pushed back.

Collins says her mother's tumour is operable now, but worries that window might close.

"Maybe her cancer will spread while she's waiting and she'll need chemotherapy and other forms of treatment. It's not fair, it's just not fair. They screwed up, and they're just not dealing with it," she says.

Elizabeth Collins's surgery is now tentatively scheduled for this Thursday. They won't know until Wednesday afternoon whether the surgery will go forward as planned.

There is no word for how long they might have to wait if the surgery is postponed again.