Indian Man Dies After 8-Hour Wait At Canada Hospital ‘Papa, I cannot bear pain’

A 44-year-old Indian-origin man has died of suspected cardiac arrest after waiting for more than eight hours for treatment in a hospital’s emergency room area, a media report has said.

Prashant Sreekumar began experiencing severe chest pains while at work on December 22. A client drove him to the Grey Nuns Hospital in southeast Edmonton, where Prashant was checked in at triage and then took a seat in the waiting room.

His father, Kumar Sreekumar, soon arrived. “He told me, ‘Papa, I cannot bear the pain,’” Kumar said. Kumar said his son told him and hospital staff the pain was a 15 out of 10.

They did an electrocardiogram (ECG) on him to check his heart’s



function, but the family said Prashant was told there was nothing of significance and to keep waiting.

Staff also offered Prashant some Tylenol for his pain. He waited, and waited some more.

Kumar said as time passed, nurses would check Prashant’s blood pressure.

“It went up, up, and up. To me, it was through the roof.” More than eight hours went by before Prashant was called into the treatment area.

“After sitting maybe 10 seconds, he looked at me, he got up and put his hand on his chest and just crashed,” Kumar said.

Nurses called for help but it was too late. Prashant died of an apparent cardiac arrest, the report added.