Death of young mother sparks scrutiny of rising fatalities in N.S. emergency rooms – CBC

ER deaths at a six-year high in the province, according to newly released figures

Jan 11, 2023

The death of a young mother in an Amherst, N.S. hospital, is renewing scrutiny of the province’s health-care system, and how emergency departments are functioning under the strain of staffing shortages and overcrowded waiting rooms.

On Dec. 31, 37-year-old Allison Holthoff waited more than six hours to see a doctor at the Cumberland Regional Health Care Centre while she experienced excruciating pain in her abdomen.

Her husband drove her to the emergency department at 11 a.m. AT and she spent her time between a wheelchair and lying on the floor in the waiting room before she was brought to an exam room.

“At one point I even did go out and told them, ‘She’s not doing good, she says she’s feeling like she’s dying,’ and nobody said or did anything,” said her husband Gunter Holthoff.

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/emergency-department-deaths-scrutiny-1.6709366