The husband of a 37-year-old woman who died in a Nova Scotia hospital following hours waiting for care has shared his story, as regional politicians demand a response from the government. “Canada’s health system is collapsing,” the husband said.
Gunter Holthoff talked regarding how he had to watch his wife, Allison, struggle in pain in a crowded makeshift emergency room at Cumberland Regional Health Care Center on New Year’s Eve, awaiting care.
He explained that they arrived at the hospital before noon, and his wife’s death was announced before the end of the day.
And it all started on New Year’s Eve morning, when his wife woke up and said she had an upset stomach, according to Holthoff.
It is worth noting that Allison fell off her horse in September 2022 and has been in pain ever since.
On December 31, Allison was in pain so she decided to take a shower in the hope that her pain would ease, but following regarding 10 minutes, their children were screaming that “their mum needs help,” Holthoff said.
Holthoff found his wife lying on the floor in pain, decided not to call 911 due to the significant delay they had experienced when she fell off the horse, and drove her to Cumberland Regional Health Care Center in Amherst, Nova Scotia, regarding 20 minutes from their home in Tidnish, Nova Scotia. He arrived shortly following 11 am.
The couple headed to the makeshift waiting room in the hospital lobby, just following 11:20 am.
The staff then took some blood and urine samples, which Holthoff says was a difficult process as his wife was in so much pain.
Holthoff told the nurses that his wife’s condition was getting worse, and other patients alerted the nurses to his wife’s deteriorating condition.
At this point, he said, his wife was lying on the floor in the fetal position.
Holthoff’s wife was taken from the waiting room to the examination room around 3 p.m., and more blood samples were taken following that.
While waiting, Holthoff went to the nursing office regarding five more times to tell them his wife was getting worse.
“I feel like I’m dying.”
Allison told her husband as if she was dying in the antechamber, and she began to say it more and more.
Allison started screaming in pain and calling for help around 5:30pm or 6pm – regarding seven hours following the couple arrived at the hospital.
A new nurse came to their room to check her temperature, blood pressure and oxygen once more, and at that time, Allison’s pulse was around 100, and her blood pressure was between 40 and 60.
Finally, a doctor came and saw Allison, gave her two liters of intravenous fluids and a pain reliever, then did an EKG and took her to the x-ray room.
During the x-ray, his wife was screaming in pain, and medical staff were called because Allison had suffered a cardiac arrest.
Although Allison was resuscitated three times, they told her husband that there was not much hope for his wife, and that the odds were not in her favor, and they decided not to pursue the surgery.
Holthoff said a doctor told him a CT scan showed internal bleeding, however, they might not pinpoint the exact source of the bleeding.
I have been neglected
“They had a one percent chance of keeping her alive through surgery, but at this point, there was absolutely no great chance of her living a normal or decent life,” Holthoff said. including her brain.”
Calls for immediate action
The Allison family, along with many provincial politicians, are calling on the Nova Scotia government to take immediate action to address the health care crisis in the province.
In a letter to Michelle Thompson, Nova Scotia’s Minister of Health, Elizabeth Smith-McCrossin, National Committee Member for the Municipality of Cumberland North, demands answers as to why Allison waited hours to get care at Cumberland Regional Health Care on December 31, 2022, despite showing signs of Having a health crisis while waiting in the emergency department.
Smith-McCrossin also called for an “urgent investigation into this tragic situation.”
Several politicians have joined Smith-McCrossin’s calls for an investigation into Allison’s death.
The Smith-McCrossin letter also mentions a request to meet with Thompson to discuss the hospital’s emergency department earlier in the week — a request it claims was denied.
The member of the National Committee calls for measures to be taken for care in the center Cumberland regional
Smith-McCrossin has issued a letter to Prime Minister Tim Houston asking for assistance with the urgent implementation of the Emergency Health Services Seven Point Plan at the Primary Health Care Center.
The plan required to address emergency health services includes:
- Placement of a dedicated healthcare professional in the temporary waiting room of the Cumberland Regional Center emergency room to monitor and provide continuous medical evaluation to people waiting to see an emergency physician.
- Hiring staff to urgently complete major emergency room renovations at Cumberland Regional Center.
- The county government communicates with families whose loved one has died in the emergency room while awaiting care, ensures that the investigation is completed, and appoints a dedicated patient advisor from the Ministry of Health to assist families, answer questions and be a resource and support.
- Immediately redeploy nursing staff to ensure safe staffing levels in the emergency room at Cumberland Regional Center.
- Establishing an eight-hour, seven-day-a-week outpatient clinic adjacent to the emergency room at Cumberland Regional Center to meet all of the community’s non-urgent medical care needs.
- Publication of actual waiting times for both emergency and ambulance vehicles.
- Request the Health and Safety Department to develop partnerships with local fire and other first response agencies to support the safe transportation of patients to hospitals.
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