Family of woman who died after 11-hour wait in ER calls for inquiry

The family of a woman who died following an 11-hour wait in a Winnipeg emergency room last month has added its voice to demands for a public inquiry.

Sheri Ross met with St. Boniface Hospital officials last week regarding the death of her sister Stacey Ross, which is the subject of a critical incident review.

She said she believes the death of her sister, a 55-year-old educational assistant, was preventable and the review “won’t go anywhere.”

“They’ve done (critical incident reviews) countless times,” she said. “We want a public inquiry as to what happened so this doesn’t keep happening.”

Stacey had taken an ambulance from work to the hospital on Jan. 15 after experiencing chest pain and being incoherent — she thought she was having a heart attack at work, Sheri said.

She said at the hospital meeting, she was told early findings show hospital staff knew Stacey was “not doing well” at 4:22 p.m., but they couldn’t put her in a treatment space.

“They’ve done (critical incident reviews) countless times… We want a public inquiry as to what happened so this doesn’t keep happening.”

Stacey’s troponin levels had changed, Sheri said; high levels can indicate a heart attack.

By the time Stacey was seen at 10:46 p.m., she’d had a heart attack that had been missed by staff, Sheri said.

Stacey died in the early hours of Jan. 16. St. Boniface Hospital leadership said the death could have been avoided if Stacey had been cared for earlier, Sheri said.

The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority declined to share medical details, citing patient privacy laws.

“The system failed (Stacey),” Sheri, 53, said. “When I think about it, I get so mad because it shouldn’t have happened.”

The family heard late in Stacey’s hospital visit that the patient had pneumonia and was septic. They were later told she’d had coronary artery disease.

The medical examiner’s report, which will rule on the cause of death, could take six to 12 months, Sheri said.

Stacey had gone to the emergency room on Jan. 3 and waited 12 hours because she was concerned she’d had a heart attack. Sheri said her sister was told she had a virus.

On Tuesday, Sheri pointed to recent cases that were also deemed critical incidents: Luca Teng, a six-month-old, and Judy Burns, a 68-year-old, also died while in Manitoba hospitals this year.

Following Teng’s death, the Progressive Conservatives called for a public inquiry into the cases. Stacey Ross’s family joined the Tories in La Vérendrye Park, across from St. Boniface Hospital, on Tuesday to renew that call.

A public inquiry could lead to “basic change,” such as differences in triaging and the addition of doctors to staffing levels, Sheri said.

“The system failed (Stacey)… When I think about it, I get so mad because it shouldn’t have happened.”

In response Tuesday, Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara didn’t promise to call a public inquiry, but said St. Boniface Hospital has been directed to hire an external, out-of-province expert for Stacey’s critical incident report.

“Our top priority is to make sure that every question the family has is answered in full,” Asagwara said.

Investigation findings will be made public if the family supports it, Asagwara said, saying the Rosses are “at the heart of this process.”

The family has been invited to participate in the review and the creation of any improvement recommendations, a Winnipeg Regional Health Authority spokesperson wrote in a statement.

“We are committed to supporting the family with care and compassion,” the statement reads. “(We) are grateful they are willing to share their care experience with us to help ensure events like this do not happen again.”

“My mother was taken from me. She wanted to live.”

As she stood by the Ross family on Tuesday, Tory health critic Kathleen Cook called the issue non-partisan.

“We need an external investigation to understand what’s happening in our ERs and to restore some accountability to the system, and to restore some of Manitoba’s confidence in emergency care.”

Stacey Ross’s 19-year-old daughter Morgan attended the news conference. She said her mother got sick in December and she became increasingly unhappy.

“If so many of us could sense that something was terribly wrong, why couldn’t a doctor?” Megan asked Tuesday. “My mother was taken from me. She wanted to live.”

The family, including Stacey’s brother Benji, asked for the political parties to work together to fix the health-care system.

The situation is a reminder that there aren’t enough people on shift; more needs to be done to recruit and retain staff, said Noah Schulz, provincial director of the Manitoba Health Coalition.

— With files from Marsha McLeod

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com