Montreal man suffering from 'excruciating' hip pain waits 9 hours for ambulance

After waking up with "excruciating" hip pain early last Wednesday morning, Trevor Garland called an ambulance.

Garland had hip replacement surgery earlier in the month, and his new hip was dislocated.

He was told by anUrgences-Santdispatcher that there had been a number ofrecentcardiac arrests in Montrealand that hecould be waiting a while.

It ended up taking eight more calls before an ambulance finally showed up at his home inPierrefonds-Roxboro nine hours after his first call, at 7:30 a.m.

Garland, 66, recalled telling thedispatcher at one point: "I'm in agony here. I'm pleading with you. I'm begging you."

Why do people have to suffer because the medical system is under-resourced in Quebec?- Trevor Garland

While he was waiting, Garland called his orthopedic surgeon, and the doctor immediately got a team together at St. Mary's Hospital to operate.

When Garland still hadn't arrived, the surgeon intervened to ensure Garland would get an ambulance.

"He said, 'I've never done this before, but I'm going to call. And he hung up with me, and the ambulance appeared 10 minutes later,'" Garland said.

In an interview by phone from his hospital bed following an emergency operation, Garland said he can understand that Urgences-Sant was dealing with other emergencies.

But, he said, patients with dislocated hips don't have any other way to get to the hospital because they have to be immobilized with special equipment.

"Why do people have to suffer because the medical system is under-resourced in Quebec?" he said.

Troubling case, says patients' rights advocate

Paul Brunet, who chairs Quebec's council for the protection of patients,said Garland's case is troubling, especially as the province's population ages.

"I cannot imagine myself seeing an elder waiting eight, ninehours down on the floor, wherever he or she is, for an ambulance. It doesn't make sense," he said.

He hopes Quebec's new health minister,Danielle McCann,will invest more money in health care to prevent patients from waiting for hours in pain.

In a statement, Urgences-Sant said paramedics try to respond as quickly as possible, "but since we have to work by priority, it can happen that a patient with a hip problem is waiting longer."

"That's unfortunate, and we do everything that we can to prevent this from happening," said Stphane Smith, the service's chief of operations.

"We are currently working on possible solutions to reduce waiting times."

He said Urgences-Sant has a staffing shortage, andit recently launched a campaign to hire 200 more paramedics.

Trevor Garland tells his story. (Please note, he has a neurological impediment that affects his speech.)

Montreal man waits nine hours for an ambulance

6 years ago

Duration 1:00

Suffering more agonizing hip pain, Trevor Garland pleaded for the dispatcher to send someone more quickly.

With files from Lauren McCallum and Valeria Cori-Manocchio