Alberta’s emergency departments have come under increased fire. Newly released documents reveal how serious overcrowding has caused preventable deaths and shocking near-misses. Dr. Parks, a prominent figure in emergency medicine, expressed urgent concerns in an email to Matt Jones, Alberta’s Minister of Hospital and Surgical Health Services. This letter described more than 30 unfortunate examples of patients whose situations had become dire. They emerged from septic shock, pneumonia, delirium and ruptured splenetic, underscoring the need for better emergency care throughout the province.
The Alberta Medical Association’s section of emergency medicine put together the document. It hit home with Premier Danielle Smith and Adriana LaGrange, her Minister of Primary and Preventative Health Services. As Dr. Parks put it, his goal was to raise awareness of what he called a provincewide epidemic. He emphasized that these cases represent only “the tip of the iceberg regarding the severe overcrowding our hospitals face daily.”
The most upsetting case was a woman. She went on to a delayed diagnosis of bowel obstruction and subsequently progressed to sepsis. Another patient went into cardiac arrest in a hallway after waiting in triage without being assigned to a nurse. In one case, a man with end-stage kidney failure had to wait almost a whole day in the emergency room. He tragically passed away while waiting for a general medicine evaluation.
Dr. Parks stated, “We wonder how many ‘ticking time bombs’ will drop dead when they should be receiving life-saving care in a functional emergency space.” This sobering statement makes clear the dire crisis that patients and the healthcare workforce are operating under.
In response to the growing pressure on hospitals, CMS Administrator Matt Jones admitted that our hospitals are facing “extraordinary pressure.” He announced a new chief medical intake officer role to help better triage and treat patients coming into emergency departments. This challenge will roll out in February throughout Calgary and Edmonton. This effort is intended to lessen some of these pressures being thrust upon the healthcare workforce.
Physicians at Edmonton’s three major hospitals have begun to organize. They are calling on the province to officially declare an emergency, as the rampant overcrowding has led to dangerous conditions. This call for action is a response to many of recent high-profile cases. Though anguishing, these cases have exposed public outrage and underscored the crumbling state of Alberta’s healthcare system.
That wasn’t the outcome for Prashant Sreekumar, who was struck and killed on Dec. 22. He spent eight hours waiting in the emergency department in Edmonton’s Grey Nuns Community Hospital without being seen by a physician. A man in his 50s left the emergency room after eight hours of waiting. He was in obvious distress, looking weak, short of breath, but he was never sent to medical care. A young black person had to wait SIX HOURS for a check-up. Wasn’t given priority. A senior citizen with the flu experienced a shocking 90-hour wait in an Edmonton emergency room.
Kyle Warner, a spokesperson for the Alberta Medical Association, recently stated more clarity is needed on the nature of this crisis. “He wants to ensure a shared understanding that the system is under exceptional strain, is responding as it has in past years, and requires additional resources beyond flu season,” he stated.
We had shared the document with other provinces, including Acute Care Alberta. This is certainly true of our chief executive, David Diamond, and chief medical officer, Aaron Low, as we rush to solve these rapidly growing alarms.
“This is a tragic case where the patient would likely still be alive had he been seen more urgently at his first presentation,” stated the document regarding one of the reported incidents. Alberta’s emergency departments are experiencing an unprecedented crisis. Healthcare professionals have been leading the charge in advocating for urgent measures to restore excellence in patient care and safety.
