A fatality inquiry is underway in the death of a man who died in an Edmonton emergency room while waiting for care. Prashanth Sreekumar went to Grey Nuns Hospital days before Christmas in 2025 around noon with chest pains. His wife, Niharika Sreekumar says he had been waiting for eight hours when he died. “Around 8:30, I think he was taken inside and he collapsed in my arms, taking my name, saying that I’m very dizzy. And that was it,” she told reporters outside the Edmonton Law Courts on Monday. “There has not been a day, a moment that I have not thought of Prashanth. There has not been a day that I have not cried. There has not been a day where my children have not cried, missing their father.” The fatality inquiry heard that Sreekumar suffered from an aortic dissection. A cardiac surgeon told the inquiry it’s a condition that requires immediate intervention and in most cases, emergency surgery, to prevent death. She also testified that the symptoms can sometimes overlap other conditions, such as heart attack or stroke, making diagnosing the condition challenging. A nurse testified that he’s trained to recognize certain symptoms of the condition, but that Sreekumar didn’t present them during triage. His wife says the inquiry won’t bring her husband back, but she hopes it will lead to change. The inquiry will continue this week, then will resume for a week in December. With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Amanda Anderson
