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<\/p>\nTonight on ‘Closer Look’: 16-year-old Finlay van der Werken died after waiting more than eight hours in a hospital emergency room. His loved ones are fighting to ensure no other child meets the same fate<\/p>\n
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A grieving family from Burlington, Ont. is trying to turn their immeasurable loss<\/a> into a force for change.<\/p>\n Finlay van der Werken was 16 years old when his mother, Hazel, rushed him to Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital on Feb. 7, 2024. The teen was in such severe pain on his right side that his mom left the car in front of the emergency department and took him straight in.<\/p>\n What happened next<\/a> was a \u201ccomplete state of terror,\u201d his mother said.<\/p>\n While waiting more than eight agonizing hours to be treated at the hospital, Finlay suffered cardiac arrest and was eventually diagnosed with pneumonia, sepsis and hypoxia. Transferred to SickKids in Toronto, he was placed on life support.<\/p>\n \u201cIt just didn\u2019t feel real,\u201d Hazel said, during an interview with Village Media\u2019s Closer Look<\/a> podcast. \u201cIt was a living nightmare, just the shock, the disbelief. I don’t know that I can put it into words.\u201d<\/p>\n Get Closer Look in your inbox<\/a><\/p>\n Finlay\u2019s family is now laser-focused on making sure others don\u2019t endure the same heartbreak.<\/p>\n Along with demanding a coroner\u2019s inquest, they are calling on the Ford government to introduce legislation \u2014 \u201cFinlay\u2019s Law\u201d \u2014 that would establish maximum emergency room wait times for children.<\/p>\n They have also launched a lawsuit against Halton Healthcare Services, which operates the Oakville hospital, alleging the facility had an \u201cinadequate system\u201d in place to ensure patients like Finlay were seen in an appropriate amount of time. (In a statement of defence, the hospital operator denies any wrongdoing and says staff provided \u201creasonable\u201d care that night.)<\/p>\n \u201cWe have the possibility to ensure that another family does not have to go through this,\u201d Hazel told the podcast. \u201cThat will give us a little bit of a feeling of comfort \u2014 that we’ve done something, and that we used our voices for something good to come out of something that is so tragic.\u201d<\/p>\n You can watch the full episode in the above YouTube video.<\/p>\n Hosted by Village Media\u2019s Michael Friscolanti and Scott Sexsmith, and produced by Derek Turner,\u00a0Closer Look<\/a>\u00a0is a new daily podcast that goes way beyond the headlines with insightful, in-depth conversations featuring our reporters and editors, leading experts, key stakeholders and big newsmakers.<\/p>\n Fresh episodes drop every Monday to Friday at 7 p.m. right in your local news feed \u2014 and on the show\u2019s dedicated website: closerlookpodcast.ca<\/a>. Of course, you can also find us wherever you get your favourite podcasts.<\/p>\n Want to be the first to know when a new episode lands? Sign up<\/a>\u00a0for\u00a0our free nightly newsletter<\/a>, which delivers the latest Closer Look straight to your email inbox. You can also subscribe to our YouTube channel<\/a> or follow us on X<\/a>, Instagram<\/a>, Facebook<\/a> and TikTok<\/a>.<\/p>\n Have something to say? Please reach out. Our email address is [email\u00a0protected]<\/a>.<\/p>\n ![\"closer_look_shareimage_1200x628_generic\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1758081549_106_closer_look_shareimage_1200x628_generic.jpg;w=960.jpeg\"\/)
\nPodcast hosts Scott Sexsmith (left) and Michael Friscolanti,\u00a0Editor-in-Chief of Village Media.
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