'Please don't let me die': Calgary patients recount long waits in emergency rooms

A woman says she spent seven hours in a Calgary emergency room, consulting artificial intelligence for answers as she dealt with a potentially life-threatening condition related to her diabetes.

Another woman says she had to undergo an emergency hysterectomy last year after spending hours losing blood in an emergency room, two weeks after giving birth by C-section. 

Stories like these are “the tip of the iceberg," said Dr. Paul Parks, an emergency room physician and president-elect of the Alberta Medical Association's emergency medicine section.

They come amid renewed scrutiny about the state of emergency wait times in the province after a 44-year-old man died in December in the emergency room of Edmonton’s Grey Nuns Community Hospital. Prashant Sreekumar’s family said he had waited nearly eight hours to see a doctor for chest pain. The province has ordered a fatality inquiry into his death. 

Recently, emergency room doctors sent a list to the provincial government and to health authorities detailing six deaths and more than two dozen cases where they allege ER delays potentially worsened patients’ conditions or contributed to their deaths. 

Parks said there were early indications this was likely going to be a tough flu season, and the problems started long before that. 

“Our hospitals have been at 110 per cent capacity. We’ve been struggling. We’ve been begging for help for over a year." 

On Jan. 8, Ashleigh Ronald, who has Type 1 diabetes, was taken to Rockyview General Hospital by ambulance. She had experienced an insulin pump failure that morning, and her blood sugar was rising.

She told CBC Radio’s Calgary Eyeopener she arrived that day around 1 p.m., where initial lab tests were taken. 

But she said it would be hours before more comprehensive tests were done, and during that wait she was feeling nauseated and her pain was increasing.

"I've just never experienced anything like that in my life. I've given birth twice. It was the most incredible pain, and it was completely preventable," she said.

Looking for answers, she turned to ChatGPT. The AI chatbot told her she likely had diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), which can be life-threatening, and that she should be on an IV. 

She says she was put on an IV around 7 p.m., after advocating to nurses that she needed it.

About an hour after that, she says more tests were done confirming she was suffering moderate to severe DKA.