A Saskatchewan mother is looking for answers after her son died of a heart attack just steps away from a hospital.
Dora Mae Rogerson from Kindersley, Sask. said that her 60-year-old son Thomas was picking her up last Tuesday after her radiation treatment at the Saskatoon Cancer Centre, across from Saskatoon’s Royal University Hospital, when something went wrong.
“He closed the door, leaned his head back, his eyes closed, and that was it,” Rogerson told CTV Saskatoon. “I went around and I lay my head on his chest to see if I could hear him breathing and I couldn’t feel or hear nothing.”
Rogerson said she ran back inside the cancer clinic to ask for help. But the staff’s reaction came as a surprise.
“They asked if he is a patient,” Rogerson said. “They said they couldn’t help if he wasn’t a patient.”
In a state of shock, Rogerson contacted a friend who they were staying with nearby, who called an ambulance for her.
She later found out that her son died of a massive heart attack.
Overwhelmed with grief, Rogerson said the worst part is that she had to return to the Cancer Centre the following day for more treatment.
“I complained right at the hospital about it,” Rogerson said. “They just said ‘we’re sorry that happened.’”
CTV Saskatoon reached out to the Saskatchewan Cancer Agency for comment but has not yet heard back.
Rogerson’s grandson, Mark Rogerson, said he’s shocked by his grandmother’s story.
“You have this 80-year-old woman hysterical because her son just died beside her and you’re just going to, ‘eh, whatever.’ At least offer to call 9-1-1 or something or come see if there’s something they can do.”
The family said they’re sharing the story in hopes that the same thing doesn’t happen to someone else.
