Pursuit of more than a million against an Ontarian hospital after the death of a teenager

The Finlay Van der Werken family continues Halton’s health services and 13 medical staff at Trafalgar Memorial hospital in Oakville, for 1.3 million dollars for negligence and incompetence relative to the death of the adolescent in 2024. The complainants notably justify their complaints by pain, suffering, emotional distress and financial losses.

The prosecution was filed before the Ontario Superior Court on behalf of the Parents and Brothers of Finlay.

The four family members each continue the defendants for $ 250,000. To this amount is added the sum of $ 300,000 for general and special damage.

The amount of the prosecution, of which Radio-Canada obtained a copy, risks increasing, since the family also plans to claim, before the opening of the trial, the costs of the health services paid by the health insurance of Ontario for the hospitalization of Finlay.

In addition to the company Halton Healthcare Services, seven doctors, five nurses and a nursing from Trafalgar Memorial hospital are targeted. Halton Healthcare Services brings together hospitals in Oakville, Milton and Georgetown.

Event chronology

It is 9:45 p.m. on February 7, 2024 when Finlay and his mother, Hazel Van der Werken, arrived in the emergency room of Oakville hospital because the 16 -year -old adolescent suffers from a migraine, persistent vomiting, pain and superior respiratory symptoms.

Still according to the complaint, Finlay takes the sorting stage at 10 p.m. A nurse sees him 5 minutes later. The patient’s temperature is 37.6 ° C.

At 10:44 p.m., the nurse called a doctor. Eight minutes later, a first doctor prescribed 600 g of Tylenol to the patient.

At 11:43 p.m., a second doctor ordered an urine blood test with two nurses.

Finlay remains in the emergency room throughout the night before a third doctor performs an in -depth examination of the patient, around 4 a.m.

Also according to the documents, the doctor notes while The adolescent suffers from septicemia associated with pneumonia with hypoxia [diminution de l’oxygène dans les tissus, NDLR] and that he presents High risk of acute deterioration.

At 9:36 a.m., Finlay seems very agitated, his pulse is fast, his skin is moist and he sweates abundantly.

It is prepared to transfer it to the McMaster children’s hospital, but at 11:05 a.m. the staff estimates that it is too sick to be transported.

Finlay is sleepy and lethargic. It is intubated at 11:30 a.m.

It is the intensive care transfer team of the McMaster children’s hospital which is responsible for the patient until 12:25 p.m. before she returns him to the care of another doctor at Trafalgar Memorial hospital.

The intensive care transfer team at the Toronto children’s hospital arrives in Oakville at 2:05 p.m.

Finlay was then the victim of a cardiac arrest, at 3:05 p.m. a cardiopulmonary resuscitation is practiced until 3:15 p.m.

According to documents, the cause of cardiac arrest is a septic shock and pneumonia.

The young Finlay was then transferred to the intensive care unit of the Toronto children’s hospital, where it arrives at 5:21 p.m. hypotensive shock [qui fait baisser la tension artérielle, NDLR].

He is placed under central veino-arterial oxygenation by extracorporeal membrane.

Finlay dies at 1:40 a.m. in the morning of February 9, 2024. Flu A is identified as the preliminary cause of death.

“Negligence” and “incompetence”

It is notably written in the opinion of the prosecution that The managers, attendants, agents and employees of Halton Healthcare Services were incompetent with regard to the care provided in Finlay.

The complainants accuse the company not to have properly trained his staff concerning how to prevent any unnecessary delay and/or recognize, treat and manage the patients of the hospital, including Finlay.

They accuse him of having failed in his duty of monitoring and treating Finlay appropriately and of not having succeeded in detecting in time the problem linked to The critical state of the adolescent Or transfer it much earlier to Hamilton or Toronto children’s hospitals.

Still according to the complaint, Hospital employees did not inform the complainants in a timely manner of the true nature and the extent of the discomfort of Finlay.

The Van der Werken family also shows an alleged shortage of personnel at the Memorial Trafalgar Hospital and severely criticizes the establishment’s procedures which, according to her, did not allow the state of Finlay well upon arrival in the emergency room.

Due to the negligence of defendants, Finlay has undergone a delay in the evaluation, treatment and diagnosis of his serious state of health, which led to his premature and avoidable deathconcludes the document.

Response from medical authorities

In an email, the Halton Healthcare Services company offers its condolences to the Van der Werken family, but refuses to comment on the particular case of Finlay due to confidentiality and because the appeal is before the courts.

She nevertheless writes that she is deeply committed to providing high quality care and compatiating to the communities which it serves in its three hospitals.

The company ensures that its emergency services are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and have health professionals who work tirelessly to take care of patients.

She emphasizes that her establishments, like others in Ontario, receive an increasing number of patients who display increasingly complex pathologies and comorbiditieswhich requires more and more often longer stays and more intensive care.