‘Can’t bear the pain’: Indian-origin man made to wait for hours at Canada hospital, dies after cardiac arrest

Prashant Sreekumar, a 44-year-old Indian-origin man died after waiting for hours in the emergency room of Edmont Hospital.

He began experiencing intense chest pain while at work. A client drove him to Grey Nuns Hospital in southeast Edmonton, where he was registered at triage and asked to wait in the emergency room.

His father, Kumar Sreekumar, arrived at the hospital shortly afterwards. “My son told me, ‘Papa, I cannot bear the pain,” Kumar recalled, as reported by Canadian news channel Global News.





According to the family, Prashant described his pain as “15 out of 10” and informed hospital staff about the severity of his condition.

An electrocardiogram (ECG) was conducted to assess his heart, but the family said he was told that nothing serious was detected and that he would need to continue waiting. He was also offered Tylenol to manage the pain.

As the hours passed, Kumar said nurses periodically checked his son’s blood pressure, which kept rising. “It went up, up, and up. To me, it was through the roof,” he said.

More than eight hours later, Prashant was finally called into the treatment area. Kumar said his son had been seated for only a few seconds when he suddenly stood up, clutched his chest and collapsed.

“Nurses called for help, but it was too late,” Kumar said. Prashant died of an apparent cardiac arrest.

Prashant is survived by his wife and three children, aged 3, 10 and 14. Family members said he was deeply devoted to his children and known for his cheerful, playful nature. The family often travelled together and shared a close bond.

“He lived for his family and his kids,” his father said. “Anyone who knew him would say they had never met someone as kind as him.”

Friends and relatives are now seeking answers, questioning how someone reporting severe chest pain could remain untreated for so long in an emergency room.

Family friend Varinder Bhullar, who had also used Prashant’s accounting services, said the death has deeply shaken the local Indian-origin community in Edmonton.

“This is a huge loss,” Bhullar said. “We expect better from the hospital and from the health-care system.”

Grey Nuns Hospital is operated by Covenant Health. In a statement, the organization said that the case has been referred to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

“We offer our sympathy to the patient’s family and friends. There is nothing more important than the safety and care of our patients and staff,” the hospital said in a statement.

As the family mourns Prashant’s death, they say they are struggling to come to terms with how he died and without being seen by a doctor. “They took my baby for nothing,” his father said.