{"id":674856,"date":"2026-05-17T04:53:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T04:53:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/674856\/"},"modified":"2026-05-17T04:53:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T04:53:09","slug":"another-man-has-died-while-waiting-for-care-at-edmonton-hospital-alberta-medical-association","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/674856\/","title":{"rendered":"Another man has died while waiting for care at Edmonton hospital: Alberta Medical Association"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\"\"\/<\/p>\n

The Alberta Medical Association says another patient has died while waiting for care at a hospital, as the province\u2019s health agency investigates the case.<\/p>\n

AMA President Dr. Brian Wirzba says the man arrived at Edmonton\u2019s Royal Alexandra Hospital on May 8 and died several hours later.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe received some initial therapy in the emergency room but because there were no stretcher spaces inside the emergency department, he was left in waiting room, this is another tragic event \u2026 We extend our condolences to the patient\u2019s family and loved ones. And, you know, these things are never easy for front-line staff \u2026 There\u2019s a significant moral distress that comes from working in that environment on a regular basis.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alberta Health Services says it is investigating and it can\u2019t release further details due to privacy reasons.<\/p>\n

The man is among several patients who\u2019ve died while waiting for care across Alberta\u2019s hospitals in recent months.<\/p>\n

Late last year, Prashant Sreekumar, who was 44, died at Edmonton\u2019s Grey Nuns Community Hospital after waiting nearly eight hours.<\/p>\n

Then earlier this year, Dr. Paul Parks, president-elect of the Alberta Medical Association\u2019s section of emergency medicine, sent a letter to Alberta\u2019s government detailing examples of another six deaths in hospitals over the span of two weeks in January. The letter also listed 30 cases that nearly ended in a death.<\/p>\n

The letter pinned most of the deaths \u2014 and what doctors call \u201cnear misses\u201d \u2014 to the fact that Alberta\u2019s hospitals are clogged.<\/p>\n

Alberta\u2019s government ordered a judge-led inquiry into Sreekumar\u2019s death in January, and also announced it was creating a program in which physicians would help triage patients.<\/p>\n

Wirzba said the triage program, which would operate across six to eight major hospitals in Alberta, is still not in place.<\/p>\n

He said he expects the AMA and the government to come to a resolution in June. Then a call-out for physicians who can make time in their busy schedules to sign on to the program will be issued.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis entire process has taken far longer than we anticipated,\u201d Wirzba said.<\/p>\n

And it is also one of several resolutions needed, he added, to solve the problem of overcrowded Alberta hospitals.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe emergency departments are under significant pressure,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Wirzba said the latest death shouldn\u2019t deter Albertans from going to the ER.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite these tragic events, the vast majority of patients get care.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Alberta Medical Association says another patient has died while waiting for care at a hospital, as the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":674857,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194294],"tags":[197325,901,32920,49,2798,197326,48,32921,23752,32919,32918,1893,197324,197323,174757],"class_list":["post-674856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-edmonton","tag-89-3","tag-alberta","tag-alberta-radio","tag-ca","tag-calgary","tag-calgary-radio","tag-canada","tag-canada-radio","tag-edmonton","tag-edmonton-radio","tag-indigenous","tag-radio","tag-raven-radio-88-1","tag-raven-radio-network","tag-yeg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=674856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674856\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/674857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=674856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=674856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=674856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}