A Canadian mother-of-three died in agony in a Nova Scotia hospital after waiting nearly seven hours for medical attention in the emergency room on Recent 12 months’s Eve – and now her widowed husband is demanding answers.
Gunther Holthoff told reporters earlier this week that his wife Allison, 37, woke up on December 31 complaining of an upset stomach.
He said Allison fell off her horse in September and has been in pain ever since CTV News reportage.
During the day her condition worsened, and after a shower she writhed on the floor in pain.
Holthoff drove Allison to the Cumberland Regional Health Care Center in Amherst, arriving shortly after 11 a.m., and carried her into the constructing on her back because she was unable to walk.
The husband took a wheelchair and drove his wife to the emergency room. He said she could hardly sit up due to the excruciating pain.
“I told the nurse and the lady behind the desk it was getting worse,” he said. “She wasn’t feeling well and was in pain.”
![A Canadian mother, Allison Holthoff, died in a hospital emergency room after waiting seven hours for medical attention, according to her husband.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/long-wait-er-death-02.jpeg?w=1020)
![Allison Holthoff](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/ali-holthoff-2.jpg?w=1024)
Hospital staff took samples of Allison’s blood and urine, which her husband said proved difficult because she was in a number of pain by then.
Allison was directed to sit down in the waiting room, but her condition deteriorated to the point where she needed to lie on the floor in the fetal position.
While they waited for the doctor to see Allison, the security guards brought in some blankets to cover her and a cup of water.
It was then that Holthoff said his wife began telling him she thought he was dying.
“She said, ‘I believe I’m dying. Don’t let me die here,” he said on Monday.
![Gunther Holthoff drove his wife to the Cumberland Regional Health Care Center in Nova Scotia on New Year's Eve when she woke up with abdominal pain.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/long-wait-er-death-05.jpeg?w=1024)
At 3 p.m., the Holthoffs were finally taken to the examination room, where more blood samples were taken from the patient.
Holthoff said he went to the nurse’s desk five times, telling staff that his wife was feeling worse. He said certainly one of the nurses asked him if Allison “was all the time like that.”
Allison’s eyes began to roll in her head, prompting a nurse to ask her husband if the married mom was doping up, to which he replied, “No.”
Holthoff said Allison continued by saying she felt like she was dying.
![ALLISON HOLTHOFF](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/ali-holthoff-5.jpg?w=1017)
![Holthoff suffered from a fall from his horse in September.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/long-wait-er-death-03-1.jpeg?w=1020)
Around 6:00 p.m.—nearly seven hours after the Holthoffs first arrived at the hospital—Allison screamed in pain and begged for help.
One other nurse got here to ascertain her vitals and located her pulse elevated and blood pressure low.
“Then all the pieces went fast, everyone began to speed up,” said the husband. “It was the first time I actually felt that somebody was taking note of us.”
Finally, Allison saw a health care provider for the first time that afternoon, who was given intravenous fluids and painkillers. She was then given an EKG and brought to the X-ray room.
Holthoff pulled away for a moment, and when he returned he said his wife was screaming, “I am unable to breathe. I’m in pain. Don’t move me.
Allison’s eyes rolled back into their sockets and “code blue” was triggered, alerting the doctors that the patient was in cardiac arrest.
In response to Holthoff, Allison was resuscitated 3 times, but the decision was made to not operate on her because the probabilities of surviving the operation were considered minimal given her condition.
Holthoff said the doctor revealed to him that a CT scan showed bleeding in his wife’s body, but the source couldn’t be determined.
“That they had a 1 percent probability of keeping her alive with surgery, but at this point there wasn’t much probability of her ever having a standard or decent life,” Holthoff said.
After her husband and his three children said goodbye to Allison, she was officially pronounced dead around 11:30 p.m. – about 12 hours after she first set foot in the emergency room.
Greater than every week later, Holthoff said he still didn’t know the explanation for his wife’s death because her autopsy report had not been released. in accordance with the news site CBC.ca.
![Gunther Holthoff said he believed hospital staff had neglected his wife.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/long-wait-er-death-04-1.jpeg?w=1016)
“Unfortunately, I feel it has been neglected and to the point where they may not ignore us,” the bereaved husband told reporters.
In the aftermath of the tragedy, the woman’s family and several other Nova Scotia politicians called on the provincial government to clarify why the patient’s medical care was delayed for hours.
The Department of Health and Wellness said Monday that Nova Scotia authorities had launched an investigation to find out what happened to Allison.
“We’d like change, the system is clearly broken. Or if it hasn’t broken yet, it isn’t too far-off,” Holthoff said. “Something must be improved. I don’t desire anyone else to undergo this.”