A Newfoundland and Labrador woman is calling for an inquiry after her husband died while waiting for care at Carbonear General Hospital’s emergency department.
Robert Power’s heart stopped after a lengthy wait on March 10, 2025.
Power, a retired miner, had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). He went to the emergency department because he was having trouble breathing. His wife Betty Lou Power was with him the whole time.
“They triaged him and they put him out in the waiting area and we stayed there for ten-and-a-half hours,” she said. “He had a massive heart attack and died in a chair in the waiting area.”
Power’s heart stopped for several minutes. His heart was restarted with cardiopulmonary resuscitation, but he never regained consciousness and was taken off life support in the hospital’s intensive care unit days later.
Betty Lou Power contacted CBC News after hearing a St. John’s physician warn that it’s only a matter of time before someone dies while waiting for care in an emergency department.
“I wanted to set the record straight. It already happened in Newfoundland,” she said.
In January, Alberta’s government announced an inquiry there to look into the death of a man at an Edmonton emergency department.
Power wants an inquiry to look into her husband’s death, too.
“I’m looking for justice and accountability for my husband,” she said.
“If he had been seen to or he had a bit of oxygen or something to help him while he was waiting, I might not be here telling you my story.”
Robert Power worked in Saskatchewan and internationally, in Ireland, as a miner. Betty Lou Power said he had a mischievous sense of humour and family was deeply important to him.
“He was my life. We were together 24/7. We worked together, ate together and slept together. He was a good man. He was a great grandfather. He loved life and he loved his family and he loved teasing and tormenting and pulling pranks all the time,” said Betty Lou Power.
“I was sitting next to him when he died and I go back to that everyday. I’ve cut everybody off. I just stay here at home. I go for groceries and I come home because I can’t deal with it.”
Power has had two meetings with Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services officials, and spoke with them over the phone, she said.
“They’re sorry that it happened. They told me it should have never happened. They should do better,” she said.
“One statement [that] was made during a phone call that will stick with me forever is that, ‘Mistakes happen and we learn from them and move on.’ I’d like for N.L. Health Services to know that my husband, what happened to him, was not a mistake. It was pure negligence.”
Power believes health officials should have checked her husband’s condition frequently while he was waiting for care. She said that once he was triaged, he was ignored until his heart stopped.
Power is not launching a lawsuit seeking damages, but she does want authorities to look closely at what happened to her husband.
“I think that the Newfoundland government should do an inquiry and give me the justice and the accountability that I am looking for,” she said.
The Newfoundland and Labrador Liberals were in government when Power died. Cartwright-L’Anse au Clair MHA Lisa Dempster was in cabinet at that time. She’s the Opposition health critic now.
“It’s incredibly sad. It is really gut wrenching. On behalf of myself and my team, I want to extend our sincere sympathy again, we did at the time,” Dempster said. “It is not acceptable when a patient goes to a hospital in their time of greatest need and when they’re at their most vulnerable that care needs to be there.”
Dempster said patients can call for a safety review that may lead to improvements in the health-care system, but stopped short of calling for an inquiry into Power’s death.
“That would have to be a decision, obviously, of those in charge of health care right now,” she said.
Power said she has reached out to the new Progressive Conservative provincial government.
“They sent me right back to where I hit a brick wall … [with] the Newfoundland Health Services,” she said.
CBC News asked the provincial health authority for an interview, but received a statement instead.
“N.L. Health Services offers sincere condolences to the family and loved ones of this individual during this difficult time. For privacy reasons, we are unable to discuss any specifics regarding an individual patient’s care,” the statement reads.
The statement went on to say that its emergency department uses a standardized, nationally recognized triage system — the Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale (CTAS) — to determine the urgency with which patients need to be seen.
NLHS said it has implemented several measures to address emergency department wait times and improve the patient experience at the Carbonear General Hospital, including virtual emergency services and primary care collaborations, as well as preserving hospital capacity requiring emergency and inpatient services so that more patients can be seen.
Power isn’t satisfied with the health authority’s response, and promises to keep pushing for change.
“I’m not going to stop until I get justice and accountability, because of the damage that this has done to me, his kids and his grandkids, no family should have to go through this,” she said. “I don’t want this to happen to another family.”
Power said she’s been in contact with other families with concerns about health care in Newfoundland and Labrador. She’s planning to hold a peaceful protest with them at the Confederation Building in St. John’s this spring.
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