Alberta orders review after man dies waiting in Edmonton emergency department

The Alberta government has ordered a review after a 44-year-old man died while waiting in an emergency department in Edmonton earlier this week.

Minister of Hospital and Surgical Health Services Matt Jones, in a social media post, said he has directed Acute Care Alberta and Covenant Health to jointly review the circumstances and factors leading to the death of Prashanth Sreekumar at Grey Nuns Community Hospital last Monday.

Sreekumar, who was experiencing chest pain, died after allegedly waiting nearly eight hours to see a doctor at the ER.

The accountant was at his office when the chest pain began. His client took him to the hospital, his wife, Niharika Sreekumar, told CBC News on Saturday.

She joined her husband as he waited. They spent almost the entire time in the waiting area while he complained of chest pain.

“The one time in his entire lifetime in Canada he needed that system, that treatment, that medical care, he was denied.”

She said his condition got worse as they waited. She believes his death was preventable and that he was not triaged properly.

“I want justice for Prashanth.”

Varindar Bhullar, a family friend, said in a phone interview that initial checkups didn’t show anything abnormal but his blood pressure kept climbing. Prashanth Sreekumar died from an alleged cardiac arrest soon after triage.

“It was completely avoidable. That’s the sad part,” Bhullar said.

“Sometimes we think it’s God’s wish, but this time I think humans could have intervened enough to save him.”

Bhullar recalled Prashanth Sreekumar as a good friend, a person who loved his family and lived an active life, often playing cricket.

Acute Care Alberta, a new provincial health agency, said it will participate in the review and implement any recommendations. It said the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner has also begun an independent investigation.

CBC News has no information about how busy the emergency department was that day. Covenant Health said in a statement that it was unable to provide comment on specifics for the care of a patient due to privacy reasons.

A family friend has set up a fundraiser for Prashanth Sreekumar’s family — three children aged three, 10 and 14, and his wife — to support them with ongoing needs. He was the family’s sole breadwinner as his wife stayed home to look after one of their children with special needs.

Niharika Sreekumar said she was proud of her husband, who was a “superhero father” to his children.

“They’re missing him,” she said. “He provided for them, everything they wanted. He had great plans.”