Dr. Frank Martino, president and CEO of the William Osler Health System, stated, "Recently, we failed to uphold religious and cultural care practices when a Sikh patient's beard was shaved without consent and without medical necessity." He emphasized the importance of respect for cultural practices and acknowledged the hospital's failure in this regard.
The joint statement went on to say, "We also want to extend our apology to the Sikh community and the exceptional culturally diverse community that we serve. Although we can't go back and undo what has been done, we are committed to learning from this and making changes to help prevent this from happening again."
The World Sikh Organization highlighted the incident, noting that the patient, Joginder Singh Kaler, 85, was unconscious when staff at Brampton Civic Hospital shaved off his beard, which goes against his faith as a lifelong Sikh.
Kaler's family was contacted for consent but refused permission, affirming that he had never shaved or cut his beard throughout his life before this incident.
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