The Vancouver Coastal Health authority is being sued over the death of a Canadian senator's son whose body was found on the grounds of Vancouver General Hospital, four days after he went missing from involuntary psychiatric care.
The lawsuit accuses the health authority and medical staff of negligence in the November 2023 death of musician Benjamin Marks Woo whose mother says she had warned staff that he posed a risk of suicide and drug overdose.
Woo's father is Senator Yuen Pau Woo and his mother is Dr. Patricia McAvity, who is suing the authority for damages in the lawsuit filed in B.C. Supreme Court on Monday.
McAvity's civil claim says her son had suffered mental illness for about 10 years, and he was committed as an "involuntary patient" at Vancouver General Hospital in August 2023.
It says Woo, who was 32 years old, died after being let out on Nov. 11 for a one-hour cigarette break but didn't return, and staff who "ignored" his parents' concerns negligently failed to conduct "any, or proper search" of the grounds before the body was found four days later.
McAvity's lawyer, Anthony Leoni, says his client is too distressed to discuss the case, while neither Senator Woo nor the health authority immediately provided comment.
The lawsuit says the facility allowed patients to receive passes for temporary absences from the hospital depending on their behaviour, and Woo had been assessed as being at low risk to go absent without leave.
McAvity's civil claim says staff incorrectly assured them the grounds of the hospital had been searched after he went missing.
But no proper search was conducted, the claim says, "including of areas that Mr. Woo was last seen and where drug paraphernalia was known to be located."
It says the four-day delay in finding the body meant Woo received no life-saving treatment and meant his organs could not be donated as he had wished.
The claim does not specify the cause of Woo's death, and the lawsuit contains allegations that have not been tested or proven in court.
The claim names as defendants the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, Dr. Vineet Singh, Paladin Security Group, and unnamed employees of the hospital.
Woo's personal website says he studied at Harvard University, where he was conductor for the Harvard Mozart Society Orchestra.
It quotes from his memoir saying he felt stigmatized over his mental health and was dismayed that “a common view portrays [my] experiences as … an awful predicament and horrible illness, and debilitating."
But in contrast, he wrote, “I have seen and experienced realities, inner and outer realities, of wonder, of faith, of beauty and which I am excited to share.”
Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
