The Saskatchewan Health Authority is reviewing the August death of a 30-year-old Saskatoon woman who appears to have died of complications from an untreated broken ankle.
The heartbroken family of Kirsten Hanke spoke Friday at a news conference in Saskatoon attended by NDP Opposition Leader Carla Beck.
Hanke’s partner, Morgan Kirby, told media gathered at C.P. Seeley Park that Hanke broke her ankle in three places when she slipped while retrieving a package from her front step on Aug. 12.
Kirby said she was sent home from Royal University Hospital and scheduled for surgery three days later, but she was then sent home again because there was no record of the scheduled surgery when she arrived for it.
She died five days later while waiting for a new date for the operation, he said.
“No one’s shocked, and that’s the scary part,” Kirby said. “We should be shocked right now. We should be floored. And we’re not.
“Because we all have heard this happen way too many times. It keeps happening. It keeps happening. It can’t happen.”
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The family was told Hanke died from blood clots that travelled from the ankle into her lungs.
Kirby said she collapsed in front of her mother at home on Aug. 19, while waiting for her surgery to be rescheduled. Her mother, Shawna, called for emergency help.
The SHA said Hanke’s death has been deemed a “critical incident,” which triggers a formal review process that will include conversations with the family. The family will also be informed about the results of the review, according to an emailed statement from the SHA.
The family asked for Hanke to remain on life support for a few extra minutes, until just after midnight on Aug. 20, to avoid her death coinciding with her sister’s wedding anniversary.
“I think about her every minute of every day and what she would be doing,” Kirby added. “And I know that she would be even angrier than I was, and am now, if that would have happened to me.”
Kirby said he believes Hanke’s death resulted from her untreated broken ankle, but added no medical professional has officially confirmed that.
He described her as strong, thoughtful and stubborn, with an infectious laugh.
“When she believed in something she believed in it and she would fight to the death to defend that,” Kirby said.
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Hanke’s parents, Shawna and Kelly, stood behind him as he spoke at the news conference.
Hanke graduated from the University of Saskatchewan with a degree in psychology and worked at the university’s College of Medicine.
An emotional Beck paused while she spoke as she called for change in the province’s health-care system. She called for a full investigation into Hanke’s death.
An NDP news release said the Opposition has received hundreds of messages from people who wanted to relate similar experiences after viewing a story by Global News on Hanke’s death.
The NDP news release said 333 people died while waiting for surgery in Saskatchewan in the 2024-25 fiscal year.
