![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.6976926.1721883767!/httpImage/image.png_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.png)
AS IT HAPPENED Wildfire reaches Jasper Wednesday night, causes 'significant loss'
One of two wildfires threatening Jasper National Park reached the townsite Wednesday night and caused 'significant loss.'
A provincial coroner will be investigating the death of 68-year-old David Lippert, who suffered a cardiac arrest while waiting in a crowded emergency room in Kitchener, Ont.
“I am relieved,” said Lisbeth Lippert, his widow, after learning of the coroner’s investigation. “I want to know why he was left alone for a long period when he was under such duress.”
David Lippert, a local executive, was taken to emergency in Kitchener, Ont., in March of 2023. He was feeling weak and had awoken unable to walk.
Medical records reveal blood tests showed dangerously low hemoglobin levels, with doctors suggesting he was suffering from a gastrointestinal bleed. Lippert told his wife he was afraid to stay in hospital, and initially rejected admission.
But he agreed to be admitted to St. Mary’s General Hospital after blood transfusions failed to boost his blood levels.
However, while waiting for admission overnight, medical notes show Lippert was found unresponsive by hospital staff in the ER, having vomited blood while lying on a stretcher. His heart had stopped.
Medical teams gave him four rounds of CPR. He was taken to the ICU, but doctors there found him non-responsive. He also suffered seizures and had signs of brain damage from an extended lack of oxygen. He was pronounced dead the day after he came to hospital.
His widow says she spent almost a year trying to retrieve his medical records and surprisingly found no notes on what happened between 1 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. the morning after he arrived, when he was discovered in cardiac arrest. "I just wanted him to be in a place where I thought he was safe,” she told CTV News. "It’s just his worst nightmare to die in the ER."
She also told CTV News the ER was chaotic when she stayed with her husband on the first day.
He was placed near the nurses’ station where she says she heard them taking calls from other staff calling in sick. It was clear, she said, that they were understaffed and overwhelmed with patients who were waiting for care and lining the ER hallways.
"They were running around like crazy. I don't know how you would even maintain that as your career for any length of time," Lisbeth said, adding she saw the nurses and orderlies doing their best.
A report in September 2023 warned that based on projections, Canada could see between 8,000 and 15,000 deaths in the country’s emergency units because of over-crowding.
“I am truly hopeful leaders will finally see and understand the horrible circumstances that patients and staff often endure.,” wrote Dr. Michael Howlett, president of the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians. “A proper investigation is the right and responsible thing to do.”
"In a functioning health -are system, someone with a GI bleed and a hemoglobin of 40 is admitted promptly... you have an example of a man who should not have been in the ER for at least 22 hours before arresting," according to Dr Blair Bigham, who was permitted to review the medical records. Bigham is also an assistant professor at the University of Toronto's Dalla Lana School of Public Health.
Officials at St. Mary’s General Hospital declined to comment on Lisbeth Lippert’s story telling CTV News they could not comment on the specifics of the case.
“We offer our condolences to the family and encourage them to reach out directly to our Patient Relations team," said Brandon Douglas, vice president of Clinical Services at St. Mary's General Hospital
Since telling her story, Lisbeth Lippert says she has been approached by dozens of people in her community, with stories of long waits for medical care, and crowding in the local ER. She hopes the investigation probes whether the intense demand for ER care she witnessed, and the shortage of staff on duty, had a role to play.
“I don’t think my husband David would have liked to be the poster boy for deaths in the ER, but yet, here we are,” she said.
“I would like to see ERs get resources they need so lives don’t get missed.”
The investigation is being handled by the Ontario coroner’s office for Hamilton and Waterloo regions.
One of two wildfires threatening Jasper National Park reached the townsite Wednesday night and caused 'significant loss.'
Alberta has called in the Canadian Armed Forces to help assist with the worsening wildfire situation in the province.
U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday delivered a solemn call to voters to defend the country's democracy as he laid out in an Oval Office address his decision to drop his bid for reelection and throw his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris.
Staff at a Barrie child care centre say they are frustrated by what they call a local MPP's inadequate response after a car crashed through a window in one of the toddler rooms.
The North American Aerospace Defence Command (Norad) intercepted two Russian and two Chinese bombers flying near Alaska Wednesday in what appears to be the first time the two countries have been intercepted while operating together.
An analyst and an assistant coach with Canada Soccer are being removed from the Canadian Olympic Team and 'sent home immediately,' according to the Canadian Olympic Committee.
After a handful of Australian water polo players tested positive for COVID-19 this week, questions have emerged around how the spread of the disease will be mitigated at the Summer Olympic Games in Paris.
A B.C. man who was hired to help a non-profit build a food hub but instead spent the money on personal expenses – including travel, restaurants, booze and cannabis – has been ordered to pay more than $120,000 in damages.
Two people are dead and two others suffered serious injuries following a shooting that police have described as a 'gun battle' outside a plaza in Scarborough, Ont. early Wednesday morning.
A local First Nations elder and veteran is helping to bring the Ojibwe language to a well-known film for the first time.
A cat who fled her Montreal home nearly a decade ago has been reunited with her family after being found in Ottawa.
A woman in Waterloo, Ont. is out thousands of dollars for a car crash she wasn’t involved in.
A swarm of bees living in a lamppost in Winnipeg’s Sage Creek neighbourhood has found a new home for its hive.
Around 100 acres of Manitoba Crown Land near the Saskatchewan border is being returned to the Métis community.
Nova Scotia is suspending the licensed Cape Breton moose hunt for three years due to what the province is calling a “significant drop” in the population.
A well-known childhood prank known as 'nicky nicky nine doors,' or 'ding dong ditch,' has escalated into a more serious game that could lead to charges for some Surrey, B.C. teens.
It's been more than a month since their good friend was seriously hurt in an accident and two teens from Riverview, N.B., are still having a hard time dealing with it.
Halifax bridges have collected thousands of coins from around the world.