A woman has died after being made to wait for seven hours in the hospital, and her husband has claimed that they were "neglected" during that time.
Allison Holthoff, 37, had been suffering from an upset stomach on December 31 and headed to hospital with her husband Gunter when her condition worsened, as reported by People.
Arriving at the Cumberland Regional Health Care Centre in Nova Scotia, Gunter told CBC news how he had to carry his wife on his back into the ER before finding a wheelchair.
What followed was a wait lasting longer than six hours as Allison's pain worsened and by the time she was eventually seen by the doctor, it was too late.
The pair arrived at 11 AM and the nurses asked for a urine sample. The 37-year-old was unable to go by herself, so Gunter helped her into the restroom but was unable to support her and she fell to the floor. Two security guards came and offered their assistance.
When the couple went back to the waiting room, Allison was unable to sit up due to the pain she was in, so laid down on the floor.
"I told the nurses and the lady at the desk there a couple of times, 'It is getting worse,' and nothing happened," Gunter told CBC. "So the security guards, in time, they brought a couple of blankets out and they brought us a cup of water and I used it to put some ice on her lips."
As Allison's condition deteriorated throughout the day, she informed her husband how serious she thought it was: "I think that she actually started saying that she thought she was dying in the waiting room outside.
"She kept saying it more and more. She said, 'I think I'm dying. Don't let me die here,'" Gunter explained.
The 37-year-old was eventually moved into a room with a bed and around 6 PM - seven hours after first arriving - a doctor came by with pain medication and to prep Allison for an X-ray.
Things then took a turn for the worse as Allison was unable to breathe and her eyes began rolling back into her head. The room was flooded with medical staff as Gunter was told to wait outside.
A doctor came to see the worried husband and informed him that they had resuscitated Allison three times, but she had unfortunately died.
"Even if she would have survived at that point ... she had too long a time without sufficient blood flow to the brain and vital organs. It would have been not a life worth living," Gunter said.
The grieving husband believes that the healthcare system failed his wife that day: "We need change, the system is obviously broken. Or if it's not broken yet, it's not too far off. Something needs to improve. I don't want anybody else to go through this."
He told Global News the couple's children did not get a chance to say goodbye to their mother, adding: "Unfortunately, I feel like we were neglected until it was to a point they couldn't ignore us anymore. At that point, it was just too late."
Our thoughts are with Gunter and Allison's loved ones following this tragedy.