The family of a New Brunswick man says he was airlifted to hospital for care but ended up hours later alone and cold in a ferry parking lot, trying to find his way back home wearing slippers and without a winter coat or phone.
His sister is raising questions about hospital discharge decisions and calling for changes.
“I was really scared because I did not know how he would make it home,” Stephanie Fleet told Global News.
Fleet’s brother, 63-year-old Robert Morse, was airlifted from their home in Grand Manan Island to the Saint John Regional Hospital for a potential stroke last week.
Morse had a stroke last year and has experienced mobility problems ever since. On April 2, he fell while at home, and his sister called for an ambulance to take him to the local hospital.
Once in hospital, it was decided he would be flown by air ambulance to the Saint John Regional Hospital. The trip between the island and Saint John would typically take about 2.5 hours to drive, and include a ferry ride.
Fleet says she made a point of asking medical staff how he would return home and offered to run home to grab necessities.
“I specifically asked a nurse, ‘Do I need to go home, get him some clothes, his medication, that sort of thing for when he flies out,” and she says no,” said Fleet. “He’s going to be flown back (they said).”
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Hours later, Fleet says she received a call from her brother on a stranger’s cellphone. He told her he was being sent to the Blacks Harbour Ferry in a taxi.
According to Fleet, her brother received no assistance and had no phone, jacket, proper footwear or plan.
She says a “guardian angel” noticed her brother in the lineup to the ferry and offered to help him and drive him home.
“My brother’s kind of rough looking and with the stroke he shuffles, and if I didn’t know him, I don’t think I would’ve opened my (car) door to him,” she said.
“But once this stranger, and I said guardian angel, called me and said, ‘We have him,’ it was such a relief.”
Fleet says Morse often battles mini strokes, has diabetes, neuropathy, ulcers on one foot and limited mobility in the other leg. The fact he was sent on a ferry by himself and left to navigate the way home is unbelievable to her.
“He says, ‘Well, they did a test on me in the hospital and made me walk six or seven steps and said I was fine,’” she said.
“(But it was) on a smooth floor with nothing there that might trip him.”
The province’s Department of Health declined to comment on the story.
In a statement, Horizon Health told Global News that “safe discharge planning requires careful coordination” which includes “clear communication” with the patient and caregivers.
The statement from Greg Doiron, vice president of clinical operations with Horizon Health, said they couldn’t discuss specific patient situations but noted that discharge planning takes into account geographic distance, the patient’s physical condition and transportation barriers.
“Taxi vouchers are a resource that we use, at times, to support patients who require transportation assistance. Patients with concerns about the care they receive in our facilities are encouraged to reach out to Horizon’s Patient Relations Department,” he wrote.
But Fleet says there needs to be stronger policies and clear communication to protect vulnerable patients during discharge.
“If there had been communication from one hospital to the other, it would have been, ‘No, he can’t come home on his own,’ and the plane would’ve been there to take him home,” she said.
“A simple phone call would’ve made a huge difference.”
With the health-care system stretched thin and worried about her brother’s safety, Fleet says she has now built a community of support so if another emergency arises, she won’t be facing it alone.
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
