Esther Elsa Winckler
November 17, 1922 – March 5, 2000
O
ur mother, Esther Winckler, died March 5th, 2000 following elective hip replacement surgery and 15 days of well-documented medical neglect at Chilliwack General Hospital, British Columbia. From the beginning there were questions surrounding her death. Two years later, we received a Judgement of Inquiry from the Coroner’s Office that substantiated our family’s concerns followed by excellent and comprehensive coverage in The Vancouver Sun newspaper summarizing the events.
The final tragic chapter of our mother’s life pales against the rich life she led as a teacher, mother, wife, and friend. Born in Hamiota, Manitoba; educated at the University of Manitoba; a home economics teacher in Nelson and Vancouver; a homemaker in North Vancouver; and a retiree who loved cooking, reading, puttering in her Lindell Beach garden, and preparing for her next long cruise to international ports, Esther Winckler lived life fully. She died at 77, predeceasing her three sisters and brother of 99, 96, 92 and 95 respectively.
The final tragic chapter of our mother’s life pales against the rich life she led as a teacher, mother, wife, and friend. Born in Hamiota, Manitoba; educated at the University of Manitoba; a home economics teacher in Nelson and Vancouver; a homemaker in North Vancouver; and a retiree who loved cooking, reading, puttering in her Lindell Beach garden, and preparing for her next long cruise to international ports, Esther Winckler lived life fully. She died at 77, predeceasing her three sisters and brother of 99, 96, 92 and 95 respectively.
We are changed now, not because she left us, but because she touched us.
There was something that the Coroner said from the very beginning that has stuck with us; something that leads us to believe that somehow Esther’s story will be heard and that sense will come from the seemingly senseless. The Coroner said that they were there, not to act for the doctors, the nurses, the hospital, the associations, or even the family. They were there to be ‘Esther’s voice’ – to hear the story that she had to tell us in death, the story she was incapable of telling over her 15-day ordeal at Chilliwack General Hospital.
And so we called this website Esther’s Voice — initially a place where family and her many friends across Canada could find out what happened to this wonderful feisty and articulate senior. Today our family is gratified to hear from many health care professionals who tell us they use this site as a teaching tool and a real-world case study that can be referred to as an example of what can happen in the face of medical error, schisms in the provision of continuity of care, and an inhumane disregard for the special needs of seniors in our medical system.