A Moncton, N.B., man says his faith in the province’s health-care system is shaken after it took more than 12 hours of waiting in the ER to be seen by a doctor for a suspected a heart attack.
Jonah Imeson, 35, was escorted to the emergency department at the Moncton Hospital last month while there for an appointment.
He had felt chest pain and numbness in his arm — telltale signs of a heart attack.
“I then was sat in the ER waiting room and I was there 3:30 p.m. Wednesday and I didn’t get in until 4 a.m. Thursday morning,” he recalled.
“While I was there, I was showing other symptoms. I was sweating profusely and I had to get up and I think I threw up about five to six times while I was in the waiting room.”
Imeson says the waiting room was completely “swamped” with patients. There were so many people waiting for care, there was a shortage of chairs and he was left standing at various points during his many hours in the room.
By midnight, Imeson says he considered walking down the street and calling an ambulance to see if that would hasten his ability to see a doctor.
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Finally, at 4 a.m., he was seen by an ER doctor. After a series of tests, it was confirmed he had indeed had a heart attack.
“It was terrifying finding that out,” he said, adding that a doctor told him that if he had fallen asleep while in the waiting room, “there’s a very good chance I wouldn’t have woken up.”
“Something needs to change because otherwise, more people will die because they’re not being appropriately taken care of. Whether it’s on purpose or by accident doesn’t matter,” he said.
Imeson’s case ‘deeply troubling’: Horizon Health
In a statement, Horizon Health’s vice-president of clinical operations, Greg Doiron, said Imeson’s case was “deeply troubling” and didn’t reflect their standards of care.
“Patients presenting with chest pain or symptoms suggestive of a potential cardiac event deserve timely and immediate access to emergency medical care,” wrote Doiron.
“We take this matter very seriously and have initiated a quality review to better understand what happened and take all necessary actions to help prevent similar situations from occurring in the future.”
Doiron added that the health authority knows that long wait times in emergency departments are “incredibly distressing for patients and families” and that they are working to improve patient flow.
“We would note that our ED staff closely monitor the condition of patients in our waiting rooms, including regular check-ins, taking vital signs and regular reassessments to ensure that any change in status is promptly addressed,” he said.
The 2022 death of 78-year-old Darrell Mesheau in a Fredericton emergency room increased scrutiny in the state of the province’s health system, and emergency room protocol.
Blaine Higgs, who was Progressive Conservative premier at the time, called the death “simply unacceptable.” He swiftly replaced his health minister and the head of Horizon Health Network, which oversees the province’s anglophone hospitals.
A coroner’s inquest into Mesheau’s death made three recommendations, including that staff be equipped with hand-held electronic devices to record patient vitals.
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