Trust in health-care system takes another hit after man's death following long wait in Winnipeg ER

A Winnipeg woman who trained as a doctor in the Philippines says she doesn't trust the Manitoba health care system after hearing about the man who died while waiting in the emergency department at Health Sciences Centre this week — and after waiting 24 hours for care herself at the same emergency room last year.

Rosemarie Figueroa, 59, is speaking out after learning about the man's death on Tuesday.

In late November, Figueroa's family doctor recommended she go to the ER over concerns her months-long cough and difficulty breathing were symptoms of a pulmonary embolism — a blood clot in the lungs that can be fatal — she said.

Figueroa says a doctor at Seven Oaks General Hospital came to the same conclusion, gave her medication and ordered the scans she needed, but not before she first waited 24 hours at the HSC emergency department without being seen by a doctor.

"I'm angry. I'm frustrated. I'm disappointed … and scared at the same time, because we don't want to go to the emergency anymore," Figueroa told CBC News in a phone interview.

In an interview with CBC Manitoba's Information Radio, Premier Wab Kinew says Manitobans should continue to trust the health care system, because it has "excellent people working on the front lines."

His government said Wednesday it had ordered a critical incident investigation into the man's death after spending almost eight hours in the waiting room at HSC's emergency department.

Shared Health, which oversees the delivery of health care in Manitoba, has said emergency department staff attend to the highest acuity patients first, while other patients are checked on and reassessed according to their initial triage.

Patients should notify someone if their symptoms change or get worse, a spokesperson for the provincial health organization said in an emailed statement.

Figueroa came to Canada in 2004, after practising medicine in the Philippines for about five years.

Although she didn't end up practising in Manitoba, Figueroa says her most recent experiences as a patient bear a stark contrast to the emergency departments she's worked at in private and public hospitals in her home country.

When Figueroa arrived at HSC in November, she communicated her concerns about a potential pulmonary embolism and her symptoms to the triage nurse, Figueroa said.

But from 3 p.m. on Nov. 26 until 3 p.m. the next day — with little food or water — Figueroa didn't see a doctor, she said, despite repeatedly advocating for herself with the nurse and calling HSC's patient relations office.

"I'm kind of feeling emotional because this … has not just happened to me. It's been happening to everybody else, right? Our lives …  [are] very, very much dependent on those people who are in front of the triage," Figueroa said.