Alberta's reporting of comorbidities questioned after boy, 14, removed from COVID-19 death count
CBC
Nine months after being diagnosed with a Stage 4 brain tumour, and two days after his family says he tested positive for COVID-19, Nathanael Spitzer of Ponoka died in hospital.
When Dr. Deena Hinshaw told Albertans earlier this week that the 14-year-old had died of COVID-19, the province's chief medical officer of health triggered a wave of controversy over how COVID deaths are reported.
Hinshaw told a news conference Tuesday that the boy had complex, pre-existing medical conditions that contributed to his death. Her comments renewed a debate surrounding Alberta's practice of reporting on comorbidities.
The boy's family publicly called on Hinshaw to retract her statement, suggesting that Nathanael had died of cancer, not COVID.
Simone Spitzer accused Alberta of spreading "fake news" about her younger brother, who had been in hospital since August.
"We just want the truth to come out," she said in a message to CBC News on Tuesday.
On Thursday, at another news conference, Hinshaw apologized to the family. She said that while an initial report had indicated that COVID-19 was a secondary cause of the teen's death, a subsequent review determined that not to be the case.
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