A British Columbia woman is raising new concerns about the state of affairs in the province. emergency rooms after she said her husband with terminal cancer waited 14 hours, only to be discharged without treatment.
Melissa McIntyre’s husband, Cory, has stage 4 colon cancer and continues to battle the disease even though he only has months to live in early 2023.
His treatment involved an ostomy operation, which left him prone to dehydration, as well as multiple rounds of radiotherapy and chemotherapy.
Last week, after chemotherapy treatment, McIntyre said Cory became seriously ill and was unable to keep down water or even his painkillers.
“The palliative care team had always told us that if he missed a dose of his painkillers, he would experience a pain attack, which basically means you can’t keep up with the pain and your painkillers aren’t working properly , because they need to stay integrated into your system,” she said.
“He missed a bunch of them, mostly because he was throwing them up.”
McIntyre said she was also worried about her husband’s dehydration and, after phone calls to his oncology doctors and nurse, she was told her best bet was to go to the emergency room, despite fears that he could be exposed to infections with his weakened. immune system.
Despite being told someone would call them in advance, McIntyre said they were in the general waiting room at Abbotsford General Hospital for hours and staff would not give no fluids or anti-nausea medication to her husband until she sees a doctor.
“(The nurse at the front desk) said, well, wait times are six hours, you have three hours left, go sit down,” she said.
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“I understand that they are really understaffed and they are short on beds. But in reality, I would have been happy to have an IV pole sitting in the corner somewhere just so he could get what he needed.
McIntyre said she eventually had to go home and feed her children and left her husband at the hospital.
He ultimately waited 14 hours, then was released after learning he was not dehydrated, was fine and needed to go home, she said.
“I’m a caregiver, so I can tell it better than the average person, but I think anyone would look at him and see that he’s severely dehydrated,” she said.
“His eyes were sunken in his head, his face had lost so much weight and he had lost at least 15 pounds in those few days.”
The next day, Cory was so dehydrated that he couldn’t get up on his own. She took him to the hospice facility, where staff told her there were no beds available and referred the couple to the emergency room.
This time, she said, hospice staff called the hospital and ordered them not to release him until another bed was available.
Cory, she said, finally received his IV and fluids after another eight hours of waiting.
“It’s been days and days of dehydration without medication, and now because of that, he’s going to have to be in the hospital for probably two weeks to regain all the fluids he lost, regain the weight he had lost and recover. His pain medication was building up in his system again,” she said.
Fraser Health acknowledged the family’s frustration and said it had contacted them about their experience.
But he points out that in emergency rooms, patients are always triaged based on the severity of their symptoms, not their underlying condition.
“Those whose lives are in danger are seen first, which can increase wait times for patients whose problems are less urgent,” spokesperson Nick Eagland said in an email.
“Like many hospitals in British Columbia and across Canada, we experience periods of higher patient volumes and staffing issues, which can lead to longer wait times. We work hard to provide safe and timely care and are grateful for the patience and understanding of our patients, families and communities.
He adds that BC Cancer-Abbotsford is the lead agency for cancer care in most cases.
In a statement, BC Cancer said it has 19 part-time doctors and nurse practitioners who provide pain and symptom management, but acknowledged it is “currently able to offer this service on a regular basis.” limited”.
“We are actively recruiting additional providers to increase their support to better serve patients in the community,” spokesperson Christopher Foulds said in an email.
McIntyre said she understands the health care system faces many competing pressures, but said these should not come at the expense of patients in vulnerable states like her husband’s.
“The fact that we can’t get something as simple as IV fluids without being seen by a doctor, and why it took 14 hours that day to be seen by a doctor, and then for that doctor to say he wasn’t dehydrated? » she said.
“Cancer patients should not have to go to the emergency room and sit with all the sick people, getting sicker and virtually being denied any help. »
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