July 8th, 2025
Re: Urgent Call for Systemic Pediatric Emergency Care Reform – In Memory of Brayden Robbins Dear Minister Osborne,
I am writing to you today following a deeply personal and emotional meeting I had with Nikki and Marty Robbins, parents of 11-year-old Brayden Robbins, who tragically passed away on November 19, 2024 at Comox Valley Hospital – North Island.
The Robbins family is asking for what every British Columbian deserves: a healthcare system that listens, responds, and acts in the best interest of patients—especially children in medical distress. They have already sent a detailed letter to your office on June 23, 2025 outlining the sequence of preventable failures that led to their son’s death. To date, they have not received a response.
Let me be clear: I have heard their story firsthand. I am working with the Robbins family directly to advocate for a full review of the failures that occurred, and to push for system-wide change to ensure what happened to Brayden never happens to another child in British Columbia.
Their words carry the weight of unimaginable grief. As Nikki wrote to me, “Our anger, hurt, sadness, and love for Brayden is telling us to move forward with sharing his/our story.” Despite the fear and vulnerability that comes with speaking out, they have chosen to do so out of a deep commitment to preventing further tragedies.
Brayden first presented to North Island Hospital – Comox Valley on November 12 with severe head and neck pain, a tilted head, and tingling in his nose. Brayden’s father clearly shared Brayden’s full medical history and repeatedly voiced his concerns. No CT scan was performed. He was discharged with Tylenol, Ibuprofen, and Baclofen.
Six days later, Brayden returned to the emergency room in obvious neurological crisis. His body was rigid, his pain excruciating, and he was screaming in agony. His parents, one of whom is a Registered Nurse with 25 years of experience, voiced their concerns repeatedly. The Robbins family requested for him to be transferred to BC Children’s Hospital or Victoria for pediatric care. The dismissal of their concerns reflects a neglect of the duty of care owed to them, and to Brayden, under professional and ethical standards.
Brennan Day
MLA, Courtenay–Comox
Opposition Critic for Rural and Seniors Health
Dear Minister Osborne,
Only after five unbearable hours did staff order a CT scan—by then, Brayden had slipped into a coma. Due to weather, a lack of an available transport team and mechanical issue with the transport helicopter, he was never transferred. He died shortly thereafter of a brain bleed and hydrocephalus.
As Nikki and Marty told me: “The care Brayden received was not enough. It was not appropriate. And the consequences were fatal.”
Minister, this wasn’t a rare or sudden event. This was a failure to act on clearly escalating symptoms, a failure to listen to clinical advocacy from the family, and a failure to follow best practices in pediatric emergency care. They put their trust in the system—and it failed them in every way that mattered. If our system failed Brayden when the person advocating for their care at the ER was a mother, a nurse of 25 years, with experience in Quality and Patient Care supervision, and current Nursing instructor at North Island College then something needs to systematically change. That change start with your leadership.
In the words of Nikki and Marty:
“We are heartbroken beyond words and carry with us an outrage that no parents should ever feel.” “We do not want our son’s death to be in vain… Brayden deserved better. We all do.”
During our meeting, the Robbins family shared the same recommendations they provided to Island Health in the aftermath of their Critical Incident Review. These are not abstract proposals—they are grounded in clinical experience and shaped by the lived trauma of their child dying due to preventable inaction. I am urging your Ministry to review and respond to each of these recommendations, and to commit to a full provincial review of pediatric emergency care and medical transport protocols:
Recommendations for Systemic Change
Brayden’s preventable death highlights the need for urgent improvements in pediatric emergency care:
- Mandatory regular pediatric emergency training, including PEWS and PECARN, for all ER and pediatric-trained staff (nurses, physicians, RTs, etc.) including the use of simulation using complex cases such as Brayden.
- Mandatory family-centered communication protocols with rigorous training and education, ensuring families are heard, included, and documented in emergency care.
- Standardized use of the PTN for complex pediatric cases across all BC hospitals.
- Address staffing shortages in pediatric transport services and improve access to timely transfers.
- Prioritize hiring of pediatric-trained physicians and nurses in hospitals providing pediatric care.
- Clear protocols and algorithms that all staff have access to that trigger early transfer of pediatric patients when the receiving ER is not resourced appropriately given the severity of the patient’s condition.
- Implementation of one inter health authority and inter provincial charting system.
- Mandatory autopsies, reviews and audits of all unexpected pediatric deaths.
- Self-awareness and trauma-informed care training, emphasizing communication, listening, and patient- family partnerships.
- Establish “Stop the Line” protocols in every hospital, empowering all staff to intervene when concerns arise.
- Investigate and evaluate ER culture and working conditions that suppress voice, advocacy, open communication and professional collaboration. Staff must feel safe to question decisions without repercussion.
- Family centered case worker to remain in communication with family following the death of a child. Grief and trauma informed family advocate role to help oversee the grieving family to transition in life after the death of their child and keeping family involved with safety review and critical incident review processes.