‘The system is obviously broken,’ says N.S. man whose wife died in ER – CBC

Allison Holthoff, 37, waited hours to see doctor at Cumberland Regional Health Care Centre

Jan 09, 2023

For the Holthoff family, a trip to the emergency room at the Cumberland Regional Health Care Centre on New Year’s Eve turned into a nightmare.

Gunter Holthoff, of Tidnish, N.S., said his wife Allison began feeling sick the morning of Dec. 31, but thought she just had an upset stomach. When it worsened throughout the morning, Holthoff drove his wife to the nearest emergency department in Amherst, N.S., around 11 a.m.

Holthoff said he carried Allison into the hospital on his back.

“She was obviously in pain,” he told CBC News in an interview Sunday. “I was rolling her in the wheelchair and she could hardly sit up.”

The pair waited more than six hours in the emergency department waiting room and then in a room inside the unit as Allison’s pain worsened. Holthoff said it was after 6 p.m. before they saw a doctor and Allison received any treatment.

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/system-broken-woman-dies-emergency-room-1.6707596