Family of cancer patient who spent final hours alone in Winnipeg ER gets apology, continues to push for change
It’s been three months since a Winnipeg cancer patient spent most of his final hours alone in an ER bed and his family is still fighting for change.
Alfred Jobse, 70, died in an ambulance after his wife was initially denied access to the hospital.
While the current policy allows access to essential care partners, the family feels it needs to be better communicated to staff so that patients don’t end up dying alone.
“Nobody should have to navigate that alone and my dad shouldn’t have had to,” said Alicia Thwaites, Alfred’s daughter. “Shared Health’s apology to us proves that he should’ve had someone with him.”
The family said Shared Health apologized because Jobse, who had been living with esophageal cancer, spent 12 of his last 18 hours alone in the emergency department at Health Sciences Centre (HSC) due to COVID-19 visitor restrictions. This despite his rapidly deteriorating condition which required important decisions to be made about his medical care.
“I met all the criteria,” said Theresa Jobse, Alfred’s wife of 44 years. “He could not make these decisions himself and yet I wasn’t allowed in.”
Theresa, who was fully vaccinated, had to wait around 13 hours before being granted access to the hospital as his essential care partner. By the time his daughters were allowed in the family had less than an hour with Alfred before he started slipping out of consciousness.
“Shared Health said what happened to us was a missed opportunity and that she (Theresa) should have been allowed in,” said daughter Cindy McKague.
The family has reached out to multiple MLAs, health officials and wrote a letter to health minister Audrey Gordon calling on the government to re-evaluate the policies that are communicated to staff.
They got a letter back from an assistant deputy minister but no meeting with Gordon, who on Friday pledged to bring up the issue again with Shared Health.
“That’s where the visitor protocol is developed,” said Gordon. “And it is developed by a clinical team and it is designed to keep patients in hospital, as well as staff, safe.”
While policies are needed to protect public health, they can have long lasting psychological impacts on patients and family members, according to Harvey Max Chochinov, a psychiatry professor at University of Manitoba.
“They’re not there to advocate for their dying loved one. They’re not able to provide support,” Chochinov said. “They’re left with many lingering questions. Did they get good care? Was everything done to attend to their needs towards the end of life?”
Chochinov and a team of U of M researchers are studying the impacts of the pandemic on end-of-life care and bereavement.
Jobse died on the morning Sep. 3 in an ambulance during a transfer from HSC to a palliative care bed at St. Boniface Hospital.
His family said they had to fight just to make sure Theresa could travel with him. And while they said it won’t change what they experienced, they hope speaking out spares other families from going through the same thing.
“Policy makers need to make sure that the staff on the ground are aware they have the power to make these exceptions,” said Thwaites.
Shared Health said the allowance of essential care partners in the emergency department is still subject to the assessment of space, activity and a patient’s needs.
A spokesperson said Shared Health recognizes the emotional strain this puts on patients and their families and that policies will continue to be regularly reviewed as the pandemic progresses.
Jobse’s family plans to donate blood in his memory on Dec. 10. They said he received three units during his time in hospital and they want to donate as way of honouring him and giving back to others.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'One of the single most terrifying things ever': Ontario couple among passengers on sinking tour boat in Dominican Republic
A Toronto couple are speaking out about their 'extremely dangerous' experience on board a sinking tour boat in the Dominican Republic last week.
What Canadians think of the latest Liberal budget
A new poll suggests the Liberals have not won over voters with their latest budget, though there is broad support for their plan to build millions of homes.
opinion Why you should protect your investments by naming a trusted contact person
Appointing a trusted person to help with financial obligations can give you peace of mind. In his personal finance column for CTVNews.ca, Christopher Liew outlines the key benefits of naming a confidant to take over your financial responsibilities, if the need ever arises.
Teacher shortages see some Ontario high school students awarded perfect grades on midterm exams
Students at a high school in York Region have been awarded perfect marks on their midterm exams in three subjects – not because of their academic performances however, but because they had no teacher.
'My stomach dropped': Winnipeg man speaks out after being criminally harassed following single online date
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.
Photographer alleges he was forced to watch Megan Thee Stallion have sex and was unfairly fired
A photographer who worked for Megan Thee Stallion said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that he was forced to watch her have sex, was unfairly fired soon after and was abused as her employee.
Ottawa injects another $36M into vaccine injury compensation fund
The federal government has added $36.4 million to a program designed to support people who have been seriously injured or killed by vaccines since the end of 2020.
An Ontario senior thought he called Geek Squad for help with his printer. Instead, he got scammed out of $25,000
An Ontario senior’s attempt to get technical help online led him into a spoofing scam where he lost $25,000. Now, he’s sharing his story to warn others.
Her fiance has been in prison for 49 years. She's trying to free him before it's too late
Christine Roess is a retired consultant. Ezra Bozeman has spent the last 49 years in prison, serving a life sentence for a murder he says he didn’t commit. Against the odds, the two fell in love.