The husband of a 37-year-old woman who died in a Nova Scotia hospital after hours of waiting for treatment has shared his story as regional politicians demand a response from the government: “Canadian healthcare system is collapsing,” said the husband.
Gunter Holthoff spoke about how he had to watch his wife, Allison, struggle with pain in a crowded makeshift emergency room at Cumberland Regional Health Care Center on New Year’s Eve while waiting for treatment.
He explained that they arrived at the hospital before noon and that his wife’s death was announced before the end of the day.
And it all started on New Year’s morning, when his wife woke up and said she had a stomach ache, according to Holthoff.
It is worth noting that Allison fell off her horse in September 2022 and has been in pain ever since.
On Dec. 31, Allison was in pain, so she decided to take a shower in hopes her pain would ease, but after about 10 minutes, their kids were screaming that “their mom 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 her horse, and drove her to Cumberland Regional Health Care Center in Amherst, Nova Scotia , about 20 minutes from their home in Tidnish, Nova Scotia, where he arrived just after 11:00.
The pair made their way to the makeshift waiting room in the hospital lobby, shortly after 11:20am.
Staff then took some blood and urine samples, which Holthoff says was a difficult process since his wife was in so much pain.
Holthoff told the nurses that his wife’s condition was deteriorating, and other patients warned the nurses of his wife’s deteriorating condition.
By this time, he said, his wife was lying on the floor in the fetal position.
Holthoff’s wife was taken from the waiting room to the examining room at around 3pm, after which more blood samples were taken.
While waiting, Holthoff went to the nursing office five more times to tell them his wife was getting worse.
“I feel like I’m dying.”
Allison told her husband like she was dying in the hall, and she started saying it more and more.
Allison began screaming in pain and calling for help around 5:30 or 6:00 pm, about seven hours after the couple arrived at the hospital.
A new nurse came to their room to check her temperature, blood pressure, and oxygen again, and at that time, Allison’s pulse was around 100 and her blood pressure was between 40 and 60.
Eventually, a doctor came and saw Allison, gave her two liters of intravenous fluids and a painkiller, then did an EKG and took her to the X-ray room.
During the x-ray, his wife was screaming in pain and medical personnel were called because Allison had suffered cardiac arrest.
Although Allison was revived three times, they told her husband that there wasn’t much hope for his wife and the odds weren’t in her favor, and they decided not to pursue the operation.
Holthoff said a doctor told him a CT scan showed internal bleeding, however, they were unable to pinpoint the exact source of the bleeding.
I was overlooked
“They had a 1 percent chance of keeping her alive through surgery, but there was absolutely no big chance at this point that she was living a normal or decent life,” Holthoff said, including her brains.
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 crisis in the province.
In a letter to Nova Scotia Minister of Health Michelle Thompson, Elizabeth Smith-McCrossin, National Committee Member for the Town of Cumberland North, asks for answers as to why Allison waited hours for care at Cumberland Regional Health Care on December 31, 2022, despite showing signs of having a health crisis while waiting in the ER.
Smith-McCrossin also called for “an urgent investigation into this tragic situation”.
Several politicians 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 room earlier in the week – a request it claims was denied.
The member of the National Committee calls for measures for assistance in the centre Cumberland regional
Smith-McCrossin has sent a letter to Prime Minister Tim Houston requesting assistance with the urgent implementation of the Emergency Health Services Seven-Point Plan at the Primary Health Care Centre.
The plan needed to address emergency health services includes:
- Placement of a dedicated healthcare worker in the Cumberland Regional Center’s temporary emergency room waiting room to monitor and provide ongoing medical assessment to individuals waiting to see an emergency physician.
- Onboarding 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 awaiting treatment, ensures that the investigation is completed, and appoints a dedicated patient advisor from the Department of Health to assist families, answer questions and be a resource and a support.
- Immediately redeploy nursing staff to ensure safe staffing levels in the Cumberland Regional Center emergency room.
- Established an eight-hour, seven days a week outpatient clinic adjacent to the Cumberland Regional Center Emergency Department to meet all non-emergency medical care needs of the community.
- Publication of actual waiting times for both emergency vehicles and ambulances.
- Request the Department of Health and Safety to develop partnerships with local fire departments and other first responder agencies to support the safe transportation of patients to hospitals.
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