Family of man who died in Fredericton ER waiting room worries it will happen again

Ryan Mesheau said he’s heard other stories of New Brunswickers’ experiences with the health-care system, and he worries what happened to his father will happen to someone else.

Darrell Mesheau died in the early morning hours of July 12, 2022 after sitting for almost seven hours in the waiting room at the Dr. Everett Chalmers hospital emergency department in Fredericton.

Officially, he died of heart failure. But the family believes had he been monitored, or seen by a physician earlier, he’d still be alive today.

“It may be too late for my dad, but it’s not too late for other New Brunswickers,” Mesheau said.

The family is hoping their loss leads to real change in the system.

Darrell Mesheau died while waiting in the Dr. Everett Chalmers Hospital emergency waiting room in Fredericton during the early morning hours of July 12, 2022. (Source: Facebook/Darrell Mesheau)

A coroner’s inquest looking into the circumstances surrounding Mesheau’s death concluded Tuesday. During testimony, the inquest heard the results of Horizon Health’s internal investigation which resulted in eight recommendations. According to documents, Horizon has approved all eight, and have completed seven.

But Horizon officials confirmed staffing continues to be a challenge.

Between 7 p.m. July 11, 2022 and 5 a.m. July 12, 52 patients arrived at the Chalmers’ emergency department seeking help.

There were 26 beds total, including 14 ambulatory and 12 acute. Of those, 17 were being used by patients who should have been in other units of the hospital.

And the July 11, 2022 shift from 7:30-11:30 p.m. was short three registered nurses. They had two additional licensed practical nurses working that evening.

The shift from 11:30 p.m. until 7:30 a.m. was short one registered nurse.

It’s a situation N.B. Green Party MLA Megan Mitton says she’s familiar with.

“A couple of years ago, my dad had to go to the hospital. There (was) no space for him in the hospital or to go to the ER He finally got in the ER, but an ER bed wasn't the appropriate place for him to be. Then he was put into a hallway. Then he was put into a unit that wasn't the appropriate unit, and it negatively impacted his care,” she said.

Her father’s experience is what drove her to enter politics.

“One of the most important things we could do is actually listen to the health care workers and the frontline workers who are telling us what to do,” she said.

Net increase of health-care workers: government

The Department of Health declined CTV News Atlantic’s request for an interview, but in an emailed statement, a spokesperson said the department will review the recommendations and “determine how we can best address improvements identified through the inquest.”

“The Department of Health is working to support the RHAs (Regional Health Authorities) in the recruitment of health-care professionals, including personal support workers. The RHAs hired a total of 848 permanent and temporary/casual personal support workers from April 1, 2023 to Jan. 31, 2024. That makes for a net increase of 627,” the statement said.

The N.B. Nurses Union says nurses are “working in a system that is severely short staffed, under funded, and held together by ‘Band-Aid’ solutions.”

“It is most unfortunate that Mr. Mesheau was a victim of a wide-scale systemic breakdown in our health-care system,” said Paula Doucet, president of the union. “We empathize with the nurses that testified during the inquest — their struggles to meet standards of care are very real.”

Daniel Légère, co-chair of the N.B. Health Coalition, is concerned the province has had to turn to privatized services to fill the gaps.

The health authorities have had multi-million dollar contracts with travel nursing agencies over the last couple of years. Vitalite CEO Dr. France Desrosiers said in February the health authority was “at a crossroads” in the summer of 2022, with level of care hours per patient at a critical point, and more than 100 beds were at risk of being closed.

Légère says better retention efforts need to be made.

“They're not being treated as the heroes that they really are. And they feel neglected and not appreciated. Government needs to address that. Otherwise, travel nurses at three or four times the price is what it's going to be,” he said.

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