Health minister, Tory critic square off over heart surgery waits, Debbie’s Law

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This article was published 25/03/2025 (216 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Nineteen patients died while waiting for heart surgery in Manitoba between April 2018 and April 2024, according to Winnipeg Regional Health Authority data obtained by the Free Press.

The WRHA provided the figures after the family of Niverville resident Debbie Fewster, who died while waiting for surgery in 2024, called on health officials to make the number of wait list deaths publicly available.

“I wonder how many of those patients’ situations were like my mom’s,” Daniel Fewster said. “People who were trusting the health-care system to come through in a timely manner, but it didn’t.”

The WRHA said two deaths occurred in the 2023-24 fiscal year (April 1 to March 31), following three in 2022-23 and six in 2021-22.

The WRHA reported four deaths in 2020-21, three in 2019-20 and one in 2018-19.

“It would not be known if the death was related in any way to the reason for the planned surgery,” a spokesperson said in a statement.

They said a clinic process identifies patients’ level of need for cardiac surgery to ensure they are prioritized and get the care they need when they need it.

“Having a loved one pass away while waiting for surgery is something no one should experience,” the spokesperson said. “These triage and treatment processes are based on clinical considerations and decisions to ensure that patients have access to the appropriate level of treatment.”

In Fewster’s case, a specialist told her she required heart surgery within three weeks after she failed a stress test, her family told reporters at a March 12 news conference.

The 69-year-old grandmother, who required a triple bypass, waited more than two months for a surgery date before she died in October.

Fewster’s family and a public policy think-tank, SecondStreet.org, called for a law — Debbie’s Law — that would require health authorities to tell patients when they cannot provide life-saving treatment within the recommended period.

A pan-Canadian benchmark specifies bypass surgery within two to 26 weeks, depending on the urgency of the patient’s situation.

Daniel Fewster said Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara recently called him to offer condolences and discuss meeting in person to talk about Debbie’s Law and potential improvements to the system.

“It was a good conversation and I’m pleased the minister reached out to me,” he told the Free Press.

Fewster’s family and SecondStreet.org called on Canadian governments to track and proactively disclose the number of patients who die on heart surgery wait lists to help identify trends and where health system improvements are needed.

Daniel Fewster and Colin Craig, SecondStreet.org’s president, said governments should state how many patients died after waiting longer than the maximum recommended wait time.

“It does happen, sadly,” Craig said.

He questioned whether people with heart conditions are dying while on the diagnostic wait list, and how many.

Fewster’s death was brought up during question period in the legislature Monday for at least the second time since March 12.

“Having a loved one pass away while waiting for surgery is something no one should experience.”– statement from a WRHA spokesperson

Progressive Conservative health critic Kathleen Cook asked Asagwara why cardiac patients are waiting “far beyond” medically recommended timelines. Cook challenged the NDP government to immediately implement Debbie’s Law.

“If waits here are too long, let patients know and provide them with alternatives,” Cook said.

Asagwara said the former Tory government dismantled the cardiac centre of excellence at St. Boniface Hospital, adding the NDP will “restore” the centre.

“This was not caused by an issue from the past,” Cook countered. “It is mismanagement happening right now under this health minister.”

Asagwara acknowledged the conversation with Daniel Fewster.

“We had a really good and lengthy conversation about what they would like to see happen in our health-care system, and I do look forward to continuing to meet with them so we can work together to restore and repair the damage done by the previous government,” the health minister told the legislature.

“If waits here are too long, let patients know and provide them with alternatives.”– Progressive Conservative health critic Kathleen Cook

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SecondStreet.org said 86 per cent of 1,568 respondents in an online poll, conducted by Leger March 14-17, believe the health-care system should inform patients as soon as possible if life-saving care cannot be provided on time.

A majority (82 per cent) of respondents support a policy requiring provincial governments to track and publicly report annual wait times and outcomes for health procedures, the think-tank said.

In December, Manitoba heart surgery patients with the highest priority (emergent and urgent) faced a median wait of 10 days, according to provincial data.

The median wait was 27 days for “semi-urgent” patients, and 113 days for patients deemed stable and placed in the lowest priority level (elective).

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca

Chris Kitching
Reporter

Chris Kitching is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He began his newspaper career in 2001, with stops in Winnipeg, Toronto and London, England, along the way. After returning to Winnipeg, he joined the Free Press in 2021, and now covers a little bit of everything for the newspaper. Read more about Chris.

Every piece of reporting Chris produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.