N.S. doctor denies alleged negligence in case of woman who died after long ER wait | 24CA News
A health care provider named in a lawsuit after a Nova Scotia girl died in hospital following a protracted wait to see a doctor has denied allegations from the household that he failed in his duties.
Allison Holthoff died on the Cumberland Regional Health Centre in Amherst, N.S., on account of issues related to an untreated splenic aneurysm, in accordance with a press release of declare filed Feb. 22 on behalf of Holthoff’s three youngsters and her husband.
The household has alleged of their lawsuit that medical workers did not assess Holthoff’s situation or take her vitals on a number of events over the course of her hospital go to on Dec. 31, 2022, as her situation quickly deteriorated.
In his discover of defence filed Thursday, Dr. John Atia mentioned he wasn’t negligent in his therapy of Holthoff, denied he “failed to respond to pleas of nursing staff,” and mentioned he labored “in a consummately professional manner.”
Read extra:
Death of girl after 7-hour ER wait ‘not caused by negligence,’ N.S. well being authority says
The lawsuit was launched by the household in Nova Scotia Supreme Court towards Nova Scotia Health and Atia, the attending ER doctor when Holthoff arrived.
The physician’s assertion mentioned when Holthoff first was triaged by ER workers at 11:14 a.m., she had stomach ache that was being felt in her chest as she breathed, however “her vital signs were all within normal ranges.”
Atia says at 11:45 a.m., as he was attending different sufferers, he ordered blood work, an electrocardiogram and urine evaluation for Holthoff and “it turned out the test results were normal.”
The girl’s husband, Gunter Holthoff, has mentioned he took his spouse to the hospital when she collapsed in excessive ache after complaining of an upset abdomen at their residence close to Amherst.
Holthoff has mentioned that after being triaged by hospital workers, his spouse waited greater than six hours within the emergency room earlier than she was taken to a room contained in the unit, and it was one other hour earlier than she noticed a physician and acquired ache therapy.
Atia says in his assertion of defence that as Holthoff was ready, he was occupied with 4 crucial psychiatric emergency instances and 4 crucial instances of pediatric sickness, and he was engaged on his personal.
It says in one of many instances of pediatric stroke, Atia needed to expend “considerable effort” to rearrange Life Flight service to IWK Health Centre.
The assertion of defence says that between 11:45 p.m. and 6 p.m. Atia wasn’t informed of Holthoff’s deteriorating situation, and he solely realized at about 6 p.m. that her blood stress had “dropped precipitously.”
The defence says he instantly went to evaluate her and ordered remedies to diagnose her and organize imaging of the chest, stomach and pelvis, and to rearrange for a radiologist in Halifax to do the evaluation.
According to the doc, whereas the CT scan was being organized, Atia had introduced Holthoff to an space the place X-rays have been to be taken. It says as Atia was briefing one other ER physician who was approaching shift, Holthoff had a coronary heart assault.
Atia then stayed after hours and “worked diligently” to assist organize for Holthoff’s intensive care, says the defence.
The defendant asks the courtroom to dismiss the case towards him and that he be allowed to hunt authorized prices from the plaintiff.
A day earlier than Holthoff’s loss of life, 67-year-old Charlene Snow died at residence after she gave up on seeing a physician at a Cape Breton emergency room after ready about seven hours. After the 2 deaths, Nova Scotia introduced a plan aimed toward offering quicker pressing take care of sufferers.
This report by The Canadian Press was first printed March 31, 2023.
© 2023 The Canadian Press
