Edmonton man has heart surgery rescheduled twice amid hospital capacity issues

A local man whose heart surgery was rescheduled twice in two months says he was told it was because of multiple shortages. CTV News Edmonton's Nicole Weisberg.

Kimon Pierson thought he would have his heart surgery done in early December and be well on his way to recovery by now, but it’ll be another two weeks until his rescheduled surgery date – at least that’s what he hopes.

He was scheduled for open heart surgery for an aortic aneurysm on Dec. 4 at the Mazankowski Heart Institute at the University of Alberta Hospital. Pierson said the hospital called him the day before and said they had to postpone the surgery due to lack of beds.

The surgery was later scheduled for Jan. 21.

“Got into the hospital, went through admitting, went through all the prep work, laying there in my hospital gown waiting to get taken into the operation room,” said Pierson.

While waiting to head into an invasive surgery, he said the surgical coordinator told him they could not operate on him that day due to staffing shortages.

“So, basically, get dressed and go home,” he said. “I was irate. I had to bite my tongue walking out of there.”

Now Pierson’s surgery is scheduled for Feb. 9.

In an email to Pierson, the hospital administrator said surgical postponements have become more frequent, and encouraged him to go to the emergency room if his symptoms worsen.

“Postponements have unfortunately become more frequent,” said the email. “While every effort is made to keep all bookings once scheduled, emergencies/transplants can occur up to and including this date, which can cause the schedule to change. Unfortunately, these changes are outside of our control.

“With the increase of postponements, it is essential that you monitor your symptoms.”

If Pierson’s aortic aneurysm were to rupture, it’s possible he could die from internal bleeding.

He said he isn’t the only one who is impacted by the continuous rescheduling of his heart surgery.

“It affects my total support network,” said Pierson. “There are three gentlemen at work that are covering my position while I’m recovering, my wife has to arrange for time off and work from home … and also my family members who will be helping out with tasks such as snow removal and stuff like that.

“It affects a whole group of people, not just me. Plus the mental preparation each time you get your head in the right space.”

Pierson discovered his condition about two years ago when he went in for an MRI and doctors found an enlarged aorta. Months of tracking the size determined that the aorta was getting larger, and that it was time for surgical intervention.

The surgery, which involves splitting the breast bone and taking a part of the heart out and replacing it, takes one to three months to recover from.

“The government has dropped the ball on our health-care system, and something needs to change,” he said. “They keep promising change, but we never see any.”

While the Ministry of Hospital and Surgical Services said it cannot comment on individual cases, it did say that hospitals sometimes need to reschedule a small number of procedures on the day of surgery when demand for acute care beds and staff fluctuates.

“We understand how upsetting it is when a surgery is rescheduled which is why all other options are utilized before procedures are postponed,” said an emailed statement from the ministry’s press secretary Kyle Warner.

“These decisions are made by care teams based on real-time capacity and clinical urgency, and affected patients are contacted to rebook as quickly as possible.”

A statement from Acute Care Alberta (ACA) said surgeries can be postponed due to unexpected gaps in clinical resources, including sudden illness.

“We acknowledge that this is frustrating and apologize for any inconvenience this may cause to patients and their families,” said ACA. “All urgent and emergency surgeries will continue as needed.”

Warner said that a total of nine non-emergent surgeries have been rescheduled across the province due to capacity pressures but did not specify a timeframe.

The most recent data from the province’s health surgery dashboard indicates that only 11 per cent of coronary artery bypass surgeries (also known as a coronary artery bypass graft or CABG) were completed within the recommended time.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Nicole Weisberg