{"id":718324,"date":"2026-06-06T05:01:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T05:01:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/718324\/"},"modified":"2026-06-06T05:01:20","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T05:01:20","slug":"alberta-man-told-to-take-taxi-to-er-despite-emergency-bleeding-after-knee-surgery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/718324\/","title":{"rendered":"Alberta man told to take taxi to ER despite emergency bleeding after knee surgery"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>An Edmonton man is questioning Alberta\u2019s emergency response system after he says he was told to take a taxi to hospital despite suffering severe bleeding from a recent surgery.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/70c8fc80.png\" alt=\"\" style=\"position:absolute;width:1px;height:1px\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Bruce Tuchsen underwent knee replacement surgery on May 11. Last Friday, after returning home from visiting friends, he struck his knee against a nightstand, causing the surgical wound to burst open.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTons of blood. It was really horrific. The knee literally exploded,\u201d Tuchsen told Global News on Friday.<\/p>\n<p>His partner called 911 but was told the wait for an ambulance could be six hours, or about one hour for a non-emergent team to assess the injury. The other option offered was to take a taxi.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-video__image\" alt=\"Click to play video: 'Patient dies in Edmonton ER waiting room'\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Guarin-Royal-web_thumbnail_1280x720_.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"   data-\/><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t2:09<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPatient dies in Edmonton ER waiting room\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>With heavy bleeding, Tuchsen said they wrapped the wound in towels and took a cab to hospital.<\/p>\n<p>Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat would have happened if I bled out in the cab?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"170\" height=\"225\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/healthiq.jpg\" alt=\"Receive the latest medical news and health information delivered to you every Sunday.\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\tGet weekly health news<\/p>\n<p>Receive the latest medical news and health information delivered to you every Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>Once at the emergency department, Tuchsen said he bypassed triage and was seen immediately by a doctor. He underwent surgery the following morning after doctors determined the incision had failed to heal properly, causing pressure to build until it ruptured. He said the injury and blood loss left him in shock.<\/p>\n<p>Tuchsen is now questioning ambulance availability.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-blockquote__content l-article__blockquoteContent\">\u201cI\u2019d like to know where all the ambulance drivers were. Are we that short? If we\u2019re that short, let\u2019s change that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Alberta has used alternative transportation, including taxis, for non-emergent cases since December 2022 in an effort to reduce pressure on ambulance services.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Raj Sherman, an emergency room physician in Edmonton <a href=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/news\/11607316\/alberta-emergency-doctors-state-of-emergency\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">who has been outspoken about the state of Alberta\u2019s strained health-care system<\/a>, said situations like Tuchsen\u2019s are emergencies but not uncommon, pointing to overcrowded hospitals.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs a result, your waiting room\u2019s packed with sick people whose care is delayed, and the whole EMS fleet ends up stuck in emergency, because they can\u2019t just put people on the floor and leave,\u201d Sherman said.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\tMore on Canada<br \/>\n\t\t\tMore videos\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>In a statement to Global, ALTA Paramedic Health said alternative transportation is only used when patients are assessed as low acuity, stable and not requiring paramedic care or stretcher transport.<\/p>\n<p>Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n<p>The agency said a shared response system launched in 2023 allows some 911 callers to be redirected to Health Link 811 for assessment and appropriate care pathways.<\/p>\n<p>In the most recent seven-day reporting period, more than 900 low-acuity events were assessed, with many directed to alternative care, including taxis, according to ALTA Paramedic Health said. Of 150 alternative transport outcomes, 65 involved taxi transportation, the agency said.<\/p>\n<p>ALTA Paramedic Health said the approach helps preserve ambulances for higher-acuity, time-sensitive emergencies, and that patients who require ambulance-level care continue to receive it.<\/p>\n<p>Tuchsen said he considers himself fortunate he made it to hospital safely. \u201cI don\u2019t really want to think about that. Because the fact I was losing so much blood \u2026 who knows.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-video__image\" alt=\"Click to play video: 'Red Deer woman facing 31-month wait for MRI in central Alberta'\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/6P_MRI_WAIT_TIME.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"   data-\/><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t1:47<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRed Deer woman facing 31-month wait for MRI in central Alberta\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\tPrevious Video<\/p>\n<p>\t\tNext Video<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An Edmonton man is questioning Alberta\u2019s emergency response system after he says he was told to take a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":718325,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194294],"tags":[19609,49,48,23752,79150,84],"class_list":["post-718324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-edmonton","tag-ambulance","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-edmonton","tag-er","tag-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718324","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=718324"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718324\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/718325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=718324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=718324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=718324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}