WINNIPEG — It’s been two weeks since Helen Drobot’s husband died and she says she still hasn’t been told exactly what happened.
Now she is begging for answers.
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On Oct. 12 Ronald Drobot was experiencing severe chest pains. A neighbour rushed him to St. Boniface Hospital around 8:30 that evening. Hours later, his wife said she got a call from the hospital that her husband was being sent home in a cab.
“So at around 2:30 a.m. my husband came home in a taxi,” said Helen Drobot through tears. “He came in the house and he was in the same condition as when I took him in to emergency .”
Drobot said her husband had a heart condition and has had five heart attacks in the past. She said his medical history was disclosed to the ER doctors and yet he was still sent home within hours and with no answers.
“They said it wasn’t a heart attack (and) they didn’t know what was causing the pain,” she said. “But they still sent him home.”
Two days after being released from hospital, Drobot said her husband’s remained in excruciating pain.
“Then Friday he was in terrible pain. He was howling. He was crying,” she said. “I said ‘we have to take you back to the hospital.'”
The 71-year-old went back to the St. Boniface Hospital and was taken into the Intensive Care Unit. Just hours later, he was dead.
“Why didn’t they keep Ron in the hospital to find out what the problem was,” said Drobot. “Maybe if they would have kept him from the Wednesday and found out what the problem was, they could have saved a life.”
Drobot said she was never given an explanation and still hasn’t been told what the cause of her husband’s death was.
She filed a complaint with the hospital and has spent the past two weeks on the phone trying to find out what happened. She said the only communication with the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority or the hospital came Tuesday after Global News started asking questions about her husband’s care.
“I’m just heartbroken. Why did he die? Why didn’t they keep him,” she said.
Global News reached out to the WRHA and asked if they were aware of the incident, if there was an investigation pending and protocols surrounding patient discharge in similar circumstances. The WRHA denied the request for interview and issued the following statement Tuesday afternoon.
Mrs. Drobot contacted the Patient Relations Office at St. Boniface Hospital immediately following her husband’s death. At that time, it was agreed between Mrs. Drobot and the Patient Relations Intake Coordinator that they would allow time for the funeral to take place and have a follow up conversation on Monday, October 24. The Patient Relations Officer at St. Boniface Hospital followed up, as agreed, on October 24, and a meeting was set for tomorrow, November 2, which will include physicians from the Emergency Department and Cardiac Programs. We extend our sincere sympathies to Mrs. Drobot and her family on their loss, and will endeavor to respond to her questions about her husband’s care as best we can.
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