WINNIPEG — A Winnipeg woman who was sent home from an emergency room and died on her doorstep in 2012 did not want to go home, heard the inquest into her death.
READ MORE: Inquest starts in doorstep death of ER patient dropped off by taxi
68-year-old Heather Brenan went to the Seven Oaks Hospital for treatment in January 2012 but was discharged by a doctor and died moments after being dropped off at her door by a taxi.
Day four of the inquest into Brenan’s death heard from a social worker whose job is to determine if patients have adequate living arrangements and can go home from the hospital.
Martha Hryniuk testified that she spoke to Brenan the day before she was discharged, the day before she died.
Hryniuk said Brenan told her she did not want to go home and could not care for herself there. Hryniuk says Brenan had mobility issues, she needed help bathing, doing laundry and cleaning. She hadn’t been eating much for months and had lost 40 pounds, so Brenan went to the ER at Seven Oaks after having trouble swallowing and breathing. Hryniuk told the court that Brenan said she didn’t want to leave until a doctor could determine why she was having trouble.
The next day a doctor discharged Brenan. She was driven home by a taxi and collapsed on her doorstep in the frigid cold, she was rushed back to hospital but died.
The inquest will take a break and continue in a week when the doctor who discharged Brenan will testify. No one has ever heard his reasoning for sending her home.
The inquest is being done to find out what went wrong and make recommendations to improve the system.
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