‘Someone is going to die in that hallway’

Janice Thomas was gasping for breath, hoping someone would rush to save her life while suffering an anaphylactic reaction.

She thought she ended up in the right place — St. Boniface Hospital emergency department — but as she struggled to breathe, not a single nurse, doctor or health aide checked on her.

During the 20-minute ordeal last month, from the time she arrived in an emergency department hallway until she was wheeled into a treatment area, she was ignored.

The hospital has since apologized, but Thomas wants a critical incident review conducted to ensure procedures change for the next time an anaphylactic patient shows up.

“They said I was failed,” the 62-year-old Thomas said Monday. “Their excuse was it was too busy. There was no resolution offered…

“I could have become a critical incident and all they’re saying is sorry. Now I not only worry about not breathing, but I have to worry about whether I will survive at the hospital.

“Someone is going to die in that hallway.”

While at work on April 17, Thomas ordered a vermicelli chicken dish from a restaurant for delivery, forgetting to let them know she was allergic to shellfish. The food ended up cross-contaminated while being prepared.

She realized right away she was having an allergic reaction and left work. Once home, Thomas began having difficulty breathing. She gave herself a dose of epinephrine and called 911.

Paramedics arrived quickly and set off for St. Boniface Hospital, administering another epi-shot on the way.

When she got to hospital, things went wrong, Thomas said.

“I was placed in a hallway unable to breathe,” she said. “The paramedics said a room was coming.

“I was having such a hard time trying to get any air and all my concentration was to keep myself breathing. I sat there wheezing very loud.”

Thomas said she was in such distress a man who was in the same hall with his 90-year-old mother on a stretcher began to raise his voice, telling someone to bring her oxygen.

No nurse came, Thomas said, but a paramedic brought her oxygen and put her on nose prongs, “but it was my throat closing, so I couldn’t get air that way.

“I sat on that stretcher, unable to breathe, for over 20 minutes. With an anaphylactic reaction, I am considered life or death. I can’t wait for a room. During this time, not one staff member from the St. Boniface Hospital came to check on me.”

When Thomas was finally wheeled into the treatment area, health staff sprang into action, bringing more needles filled with epinephrine and connecting her to an IV.

“One of the nurses said she could hear me struggling to breathe from the hallway. That comment still haunts me.”

“One of the nurses said she could hear me struggling to breathe from the hallway. That comment still haunts me.”

Thomas said she was later told by St. Boniface patient relations she was triaged as a Level 2 emergent patient, a step down from the most serious cases. The Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians recommends on its website a Level 2 patient in emergency should be checked on every 15 minutes.

Thomas said even in the treatment area, after she was stabilized, she was ignored. When she pointed out to a nurse that the vein in which the IV was in had “blown out” — she took a photo of it when it was the size of a tennis ball — “the nurse threw a compress at me and left.”

She said another nurse came by, “freaked out,” and changed the IV to the other arm.

Thomas began to feel better a few hours later and left the hospital, knowing she had EpiPens at home.

A Winnipeg Regional Health Authority spokeswoman said because the hospital’s resuscitation room was full with patients when Thomas arrived, “after being triaged with normal vital signs, the nurse went to make space in the resuscitation room.

“We don’t want to say we didn’t respond to the patient’s needs — we did do that.”

The spokeswoman said the hospital’s patient relations team has spoken to Thomas and “we encourage the patient to discuss any further concerns regarding their care with the team as they are best positioned to help navigate those questions and concerns.”

Molly McCracken, the Manitoba Health Coalition’s interim spokeswoman, said what happened to Thomas shouldn’t happen to anyone.

“It is imperative that adequate staffing be in place in ERs to help patients in need and prevent critical incidents from taking place,” McCracken said.

“This terrible incident shows that Manitoba’s health-care system is still under stress and adds urgency to our calls for the Manitoba government to ensure adequate staff to help those in life-and-death situations.”

Progressive Conservative health critic Kathleen Cook called the incident “a terrible and frightening experience for anyone to go through… her motivation here is to make sure this doesn’t happen to anyone else.

“I think the minister should investigate this as a critical incident because, as Janice has said, she could have died. And, more broadly, I think this speaks to what is likely caused by a staffing shortage. There was not enough staff in the ER that day to check up on her and make sure she was doing OK — she was clearly not doing OK.”

Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said it’s appreciated that Thomas brought her concerns forward.

“It’s a priority for me and my government that every Manitoban who accesses an emergency room gets the care that is needed,” Asagwara said. “It’s important we listen.

“Our top priority is staffing the health-care system and making sure every bed has a nurse at the bedside … it’s feedback from people like Janice who give us the feedback to help us improve health care.”

Thomas said she is still pushing for the hospital or the WRHA to investigate what happened to her as a critical incident.

“If I save one life — or change their policies — I will be happy,” she said.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca