Murray Hindley has been a quadriplegic since a cycling accident in 1999 left him paralyzed from the neck down. For more than 25 years, he has relied on trained community health workers coming to his Saanich home for essential daily care — including a medically necessary bowel routine that keeps him alive.

In recent months, that system has broken down.

According to CBC News, which broke the story on Monday morning, many of the workers now showing up at Hindley’s home are not trained to perform digital stimulation — the procedure required to initiate a bowel movement for someone with a high-cervical spinal cord injury. The result has been catastrophic for the 72-year-old and his family.

“There was a situation where my dad was left without any bowel care for four days in a row. And then again, just days later, for five days in a row.”

— Mike Hindley, Murray’s son, speaking to CBC News, May 4, 2026

Murray himself told CBC: “I feel sick at times. My stomach hurts constantly.”

A Medical Emergency Disguised as a Staffing Problem

This isn’t a minor inconvenience. The medical stakes are severe.

Dr. Andrei Krassioukov, a professor at the University of British Columbia’s Department of Medicine and a staff physician at the G.F. Strong Rehabilitation Centre — one of BC’s leading experts on spinal cord injury — told CBC that clinical recommendations call for bowel routines at least every other day for people with high-cervical spinal cord injuries.

When fecal masses are retained, the consequences go far beyond discomfort. According to Krassioukov, the buildup can cause a dangerous spike in blood pressure — a condition known as autonomic dysreflexia — which in worst cases can lead to a stroke. For Murray Hindley, going five days without care wasn’t just painful. It was a potential medical emergency.

Krassioukov told CBC he hears about this pattern constantly: high turnover among home support workers, missed appointments, and care hours being cut. “I often hear from patients about these issues,” he said.

The Government’s Response: “Call 911 or Pay Privately”

The Hindley family didn’t suffer in silence. They raised their concerns directly with Murray’s home-support manager. The response they received was telling.

According to Mike Hindley, they were told:

  • Staff shortages are affecting worker availability
  • Some workers have expressed reluctance to return to care for Murray (the nature of those concerns was not explained)
  • They should consider private care options when workers don’t show up
  • They could enroll in CSIL (Choice in Supports for Independent Living) — a BC program where families receive funding from the health authority to hire and manage their own care workers
  • If they believe Murray’s life is at risk, they should call 911

“I don’t believe that their lack of care should ever put us in that situation.”

— Mike Hindley, on being told to call 911 when care workers don’t show up

Mike Hindley also pointed out that private care is not a realistic solution when workers simply don’t show up at the last minute. And taking on the full administrative burden of hiring and managing workers under CSIL — on top of the daily demands of caring for a quadriplegic parent — is not a reasonable ask of a family already stretched to the limit.

Island Health did not respond to specific questions from CBC about Murray Hindley’s case, citing patient confidentiality.

The Bigger Picture: A System in Structural Collapse

The Hindley family’s situation is not a one-off. It reflects a system under sustained and worsening stress.

BC’s home support workforce has faced chronic shortages for years. Low wages, difficult working conditions, and high turnover have created a sector where vulnerable people are routinely assigned workers who lack the specific training their care requires. For someone like Murray Hindley — whose needs are highly specific and medically critical — a “replacement worker” who doesn’t know how to perform digital stimulation is not a solution. It is a crisis.

The NDP government has made repeated promises to strengthen home care. In budget after budget, they have announced investments in health human resources. But the structural problems — low pay, poor training, inadequate oversight, and a system that cannot match workers to patient needs — have continued to worsen.

This month, the government also confirmed it has cancelled contracts for five long-term care facilities and the Phase 2 expansion of Burnaby Hospital, citing a record $13.3-billion deficit. While those projects were described as “re-paced,” the cancellations mean BC will have fewer long-term care beds and hospital capacity for years to come — at exactly the moment when an aging population is demanding more.

The System Is Failing BC’s Most Vulnerable

  • Murray Hindley, 72, quadriplegic since 1999 — left without bowel care 5 days in a row
  • Medical experts: going 2+ days without bowel routine can cause stroke risk
  • Cause: untrained replacement workers, chronic staff shortages
  • Government response: “Call 911 or hire private care”
  • Island Health: refused to comment on the specific case
  • NDP also cancelled 5 long-term care facilities and Burnaby Hospital expansion this spring
  • BC deficit: $13.3 billion — no room for health system investment

What BC Seniors and Disabled Residents Deserve

Murray Hindley is not asking for a luxury. He is asking for trained medical care to keep him alive — care that BC’s publicly funded health system has promised him for 25 years and increasingly cannot deliver.

The NDP government likes to talk about a compassionate, comprehensive health care system. But when a 72-year-old man who is paralyzed from the neck down can go five days without basic care — and the government’s response is to tell his family to handle it privately or call an ambulance — that compassion rings hollow.

BC spends more on health care than nearly any province in the country. And still, families like the Hindleys are being told to fend for themselves.

The BC Nurses’ Union is currently preparing a strike vote after contract talks collapsed. Home support workers remain among the lowest-paid care workers in the province. The workers aren’t failing Murray Hindley — the system the NDP built and is responsible for is failing him.