Family pushes for inquest into Ontario teen’s death following eight-hour wait to see doctor in ER

Family on a quest for health care reform following the death of their 16-year-old son.

Finlay van der Werken was a smart, active older brother, with “an infectious smile and laugh,” who dreamed of becoming a veterinarian when he grew up. But in February 2024, the 16-year-old’s mother, Hazel, rushed him to the hospital, not knowing he would never return home.

“Just after 9 at night, he cried out in pain,” said Hazel van der Werken. “It was a pain on his right side.”

She told CTV News that initially van der Werken was dealing with a migraine. It was something he often got, she explained, when he was getting a cold or a bug. Not being a teenager who often cried out in pain, when he did, she told him she was going to take him to Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital.

“He was just looking at me as if, ‘What the hell’s happening?’” as they drove to the hospital, she recounted. “And I just remember being terrified that gut feeling that says something’s really, really wrong.”

When they got to the emergency room, she said she didn’t even park the car, just abandoned it outside to get him help.

A nurse brought them a wheelchair, and “he just said, Please help me.”

The family says he was triaged at 10 p.m., but it would be more than eight hours before he saw a doctor, despite his mother’s repeated requests for help.

“I kept worrying that they’re going to think I’m such a nuisance. And I don’t want them to think that I’d be making such a fuss, and then they ignored us more,” she told CTV News.

Family sues hospital

Van der Werken’s family is suing the hospital and staff for in excess of $1.3 million, claiming “…Finlay’s pain, suffering, emotional distress and death were caused solely as a result of the negligence of the Defendants…”

Their claims have not been proven in court, and lawyers for the hospital and named staff members have not responded in writing to the lawsuit yet.

According to their statement of claim, hospital staff ordered him pain medication and tracked his vitals, but he did not see a physician until 6:22 a.m.

“He was triaged as a Level Two on the Canadian triage acuity scale,” said the family’s lawyer, Meghan Walker. “The guidelines say that a patient who is a Level Two, which is the second highest, should be seen by a physician within 15 minutes.”

According to the statement of claim, van der Werken was experiencing “sepsis/pneumonia with hypoxia, and he was at high risk for acute deterioration.”

When his parents were told van der Werken had pneumonia, his mother said she had a minute where she thought it was going to be okay.

“He’s a healthy 16-year-old; he’s been seen now finally,” said Hazel. “But that didn’t last long.”

She says he was asked to take deep breaths, but he struggled, saying it was too painful.

A decision was made to try to move him to McMaster Children’s Hospital, but they were unable to stabilize him. Then a team from Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children came.

“They decided he had to be intubated for transport on his stomach,” said GJ, van der Werken’s father. “That was the last time we saw Finlay conscious.”

He recalled that when they tried to move him to a stretcher for transportation, van der Werken suffered a cardiac arrest that lasted about 10 minutes, “which was unbelievable for us.”

He said they got him stable enough to transport, and he was moved to Toronto.

“He got connected to an ECMO machine that basically takes over your heart and lung function so that his body would have a chance to recover and heal,” explained GJ. But his oxygen levels didn’t go up and other organs were starting to be impacted.

“After several hours of his body just fighting the sepsis and no improvement, the doctor called us in to explain that there is no chance of Finlay getting better,” said GJ.

He told CTV News that doctors told them they could continue with ECMO, but there was a risk that van der Werken might feel pain.

“This is not a decision any parent should ever have to make,” said GJ, but they didn’t want him in pain, “so we had to let him go.”

GJ said his son died 27 hours after he’d first arrived at the Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital emergency room.

CTV News reached out to Halton Healthcare for comment.

In a statement, Dr. Cheryl Williams, EVP of Clinical Operations and Chief Nursing Executive, said, “…we extend our deepest condolences to the van der Werken family on the tragic loss of Finlay.”

She goes on to say that they are “deeply committed to delivering high-quality, compassionate care to the communities we serve across all three of our hospitals...”

They are also promising to actively advance several key initiatives, such as the development of an integrated Emergency Department Working Group, the establishment of a Length of Stay committee and the launch of a new Command Centre.

They are also looking into improving physician scheduling policies, refining and standardizing Hospital On-Call Coverage Criteria (HOCC) protocols, strengthening our clinical leadership structure, introducing a refreshed strategy to advance emergency care and drive continuous improvement and engaging patients and families in quality improvement efforts.“I do believe that Halton Healthcare is taking this seriously,” said Hazel. “I do believe that they understand that big change is needed.”

Family calls for change, inquest

She and her husband are also pushing for change. They have started social media pages called Finlay’s Voice, calling for health care reform. And they’ve launched a petition calling on the government to pass “Finlay’s Law.”

According to the petition, the law would set legal maximum ER wait times for children under 18, mandate safe pediatric nurse-to-patient and physician-to-patient ratios in emergency settings and establish independent oversight to audit hospitals, investigate pediatric ER deaths, and enforce compliance.

The petition is also calling for mandating public, independent reviews of every pediatric death in an ER waiting area and funding better pediatric emergency readiness, including staffing, training, and infrastructure.

The family also requested a coroner’s inquest.

In a statement to CTV News, a spokesperson confirms the family has requested one.

“The Regional Supervising Coroner for Toronto West will review all aspects of the death investigation that occurred before making a decision whether a discretionary inquest will be called,” said a spokesperson in an emailed statement. “The review is not yet complete so no decision has been made.”

His parents are doing this activism in his honour, saying he would have wanted to fight for fairness and justice to help others.

“He just had, from when he was born, this heart that had so much love to give,” Hazel said of her son.

And they hope with their advocacy they can keep that love alive.