GJ van der Werken holds a picture of his 16-year-old son Finlay, who died in February, 2024. Finlay’s family is pushing for legislative changes to emergency-room care.Nick Iwanyshyn/The Globe and Mail
A statement of defence filed by a health-services corporation and several nurses in Ontario denies allegations of negligence made in a lawsuit filed on behalf of the family of a 16-year-old boy who waited hours to see a doctor, later dying of pneumonia and septic shock.
The lawsuit involves Finlay van der Werken, an active, hockey-playing teen who was rushed to the Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital by his mother on the evening of Feb. 7, 2024. Mr. Van der Werken was experiencing excruciating pain on his right side, she said.
A statement of defence, filed on Tuesday in Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice, is in response to a statement of claim previously filed on behalf of Mr. Van der Werken’s family against Halton Healthcare Services Corp., a network of hospitals that includes Oakville Trafalgar Memorial.
The statement of defence was not filed on behalf of doctors named in the lawsuit because they are, the statement says, independent contractors and not hospital employees.
The lawsuit claims Mr. Van der Werken’s pain, suffering, emotional distress and death were caused solely by negligence. The allegations have not been proved in court.
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Mr. Van der Werken’s story has generated considerable public attention from patients and health care providers who believe it underscores the dire state of emergency-room care in Canada.
Ontario’s Health Ministry said in a recent statement that Mr. Van der Werken’s death was both “deeply tragic and unacceptable.” The ministry also said it expects every hospital to uphold the “highest standard of patient care” and to comply with requirements under the Public Hospitals Act when responding to and reviewing incidents to ensure they do not happen again.
When he was triaged, hospital staff determined Mr. Van der Werken needed rapid medical intervention. He was classified as “Level 2″ on the Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale. The CTAS system is used by emergency departments to prioritize patients based on the type and severity of their symptoms. At “Level 2,″ a patient should ideally be seen in 15 minutes, 95 per cent of the time.
Hospital records show that instead of seeing a doctor right away, he waited more than eight hours to see a physician on the morning of Feb. 8.
His mother, Hazel, told The Globe and Mail last month that her son could be heard making noises in the hallway during the hours-long wait while his condition deteriorated. She also said she alerted nurses several times to his decline.
Mr. Van der Werken suffered a cardiac arrest at 3:05 p.m. on Feb. 8 and CPR was performed, the statement of claim states. It said the contributing cause of arrest was listed as septic shock, pneumonia. Mr. Van der Werken was transferred by ambulance to SickKids, where he died in the early morning of Feb. 9.
The statement of defence states that at all times hospital defendants provided “reasonable hospital and nursing care” to Mr. Van der Werken in accordance with accepted standards, pursuant to the direction of independent medical practitioners responsible for Mr. Van der Werken’s care.
“The Hospital Defendants plead that there was no act or omission by the Hospital Defendants, or by any person for whom they are in law responsible, which caused or contributed to the damages alleged,” the legal document states.
“The Hospital Defendants therefore ask that the action against them be dismissed with costs.”
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Beyond the lawsuit, Mr. Van der Werken’s family is pushing for legislative changes to emergency-room care and for the creation of “Finlay’s Law” to set emergency-room waiting times for children along with other measures. Their campaign for change is called “Finlay’s Voice.”
The family has also requested that a discretionary inquest be called to examine the circumstances of their son’s death. While inquests are automatic in the province under certain criteria, they are not when a child dies at a hospital. The Office of the Chief Coroner of Ontario is reviewing the request.
Cheryl Williams, the executive vice-president of clinical operations and chief nursing officer of Halton Healthcare, said in a statement Wednesday that the organization does not comment on individual patient cases.
She said it is continuing to institute initiatives as part of its emergency-room action plan. “These efforts are helping us build stronger teams, enhance patient flow, and create a more responsive, patient-centered environment across all our emergency departments.”
