Family alleges UCHealth cut off Indigenous patient’s hair, then lied about it

The family of an Indigenous man receiving medical care at UCHealth alleges the Aurora hospital cut and disposed of their relative’s waist-length hair — something that goes against sacred Native American cultural practices — and then lied about it when confronted.

Now, the family of 65-year-old Arthur Janis is seeking an apology.

“They continued to deny that they cut his hair,” said Keith Janis, a member of the Oglala Lakota Nation, of his brother. “They tried to make us all sound crazy.”

On Thursday, UCHealth officials released a statement saying they had determined through an investigation that Arthur Janis arrived at their hospital with shoulder-length hair that hospital staff cut shorter to prevent the intensive care patient from developing a pressure ulcer.

Dan Weaver, UCHealth’s vice president of communications, said the patient was not identified as someone with Native American roots before hospital staff cut his hair.

“Our medical team acted appropriately given the information they had available to them and the acute medical needs of the patient,” Weaver wrote in the statement. “We continue to work with the family to coordinate his ongoing care.”

Keith Janis said his brother was medically transported from Rapid City, South Dakota, to UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital in August after suffering severe chest and stomach pain. Arthur Janis experienced blood clotting and a stroke while at UCHealth, leaving him drifting in and out of consciousness, Keith Janis told The Post in an interview. Arthur remains hospitalized there.

Family members from across the country visited Arthur Janis in the hospital, but expenses kept them from staying long, his brother said.

In October, UCHealth staff arranged a video call between Arthur Janis and his sister so she could check in on him. Keith Janis said his sister noticed Arthur’s waist-length hair had been chopped short, seemingly haphazardly.

“All of us have long hair because it’s a part of our culture,” Keith Janis said. “In Lakota culture, hair has all the memories of your whole life. It has the love of your mother who brushed it and braided it and poured her love and strength into it.”

UCHealth’s Weaver said Arthur Janis had matted hair at the back of his head and that his medical team had to “carefully trim” for health reasons.

When a Lakota tribal member dies, Keith Janis said their long hair is cut and becomes part of a memorial for their family members.

“The hair is so important to us and has real cultural significance,” Keith Janis said.

Seeing his brother’s hair cut was particularly gutting to Keith Janis because it transported him back to the memory of himself and Arthur being forcibly separated from their parents as children and taken to a Native American boarding school, where their hair was cut against their will.

“We have been growing it out since then,” Keith Janis said.

Upset by the haircut, Keith Janis raised money for himself and other Indigenous activists to travel to Colorado and learn about what had happened. In early November, Keith Janis and loved ones made the trip from South Dakota. Keith Janis said he and his group were met at UCHealth by “a security detail.”

“We didn’t come in stomping and yelling or making a scene,” Keith Janis said. “We’re all very humble people. We just wanted to see Arthur.”

Keith Janis met with UCHealth staff multiple times, asking what happened to his brother’s hair. He provided The Post with recordings of those meetings, which appear to show UCHealth officials telling the Janis family that Arthur had his long hair when he entered their care but returned to the hospital from the Center at Lowry, a medical recovery and rehabilitation facility, having had his hair cut.

A recording of a meeting with Center at Lowry staff that Keith Janis provided to The Post documented an employee there saying she was comfortable testifying under oath that Arthur did not have his hair cut at their facility.

UCHealth told Keith Janis in the recordings that the situation was under investigation and that staff would review surveillance footage and conduct employee interviews. But Keith Janis said he’s only been provided a couple of blurry still photographs from the security footage, and that UCHealth has not shown him any video.

As news of the situation spread, CU Regent Nolbert Chavez said he wanted answers from UCHealth about what happened, noting the connection between the university and the hospital on CU’s Anschutz Medical Campus.

Chavez said UCHealth officials offered two different explanations to him and other CU leaders, first saying they had video that showed Arthur Janis initially arriving at the hospital with short hair, then claiming to have footage showing Arthur leaving the hospital with long hair and returning from the rehab facility with shorter hair.

“UCHealth has lied to the Board of Regents, to the community and to the family that they have a video that proves their position,” Chavez said. “They continue to withhold it and therefore I believe that it either doesn’t exist or doesn’t show what they say it does. They have lied to everyone.”