A Canadian teenager died in agony after waiting eight hours for treatment at the hospital despite staff identifying he required urgent care, a lawsuit claims.

Finlay van der Werken, 16, died on February 9, 2024, at an Ontario hospital after suffering from sepsis and pneumonia with hypoxia. 

His family rushed him to the hospital when he began experiencing pain, vomiting, and upper respiratory symptoms, according to the suit, two days before his death.

The suit cited a triage assessment performed at 10 pm that cited he was ‘moaning and grunting in pain,’ but wasn’t assessed for another eight hours. 

Now his parents, Hazel and GJ van der Werken, are suing Halton Healthcare Services, which owns and operates Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital, for $1.3 million, claiming that the hospital’s alleged negligence contributed to their son’s pain, suffering, emotional distress, and ultimately his death.

‘Finlay’s death is an unimaginable tragedy that has raised serious concerns about the care he received and the system’s ability to protect children in crisis,’ the family’s lawyer, Meghan Walker, told Daily Mail. 

The nightmare chain of events began on the night of February 7 when the teen started crying out in pain, Hazel recalled to local Canadian news outlet CTV. 

‘And I just remember being terrified that gut feeling that says something’s really, really wrong,’ she recounted. 

His mother rushed him to the hospital, and a nurse brought a wheelchair to the parking lot to help Finlay around 10 pm.

The staff took his vitals, and a doctor ordered Tylenol for Finlay just before 11 pm. It was noted that Finlay had a history of migraines, nausea, vomiting, but no urinary symptoms, according to a report cited in the lawsuit. 

Hazel notified a nurse around 3 am that her son was struggling to breathe. It wasn’t until 6:22 am that a doctor came to assess Finlay, according to the court document. 

The doctor’s assessment noted that Finlay was a chronic migraine sufferer, had developed an upper respiratory tract infection, and was experiencing acute right-sided pain in his chest, neck, and lower abdomen. 

‘Unfortunately, there have been long wait times overnight. Current wait times are over 10 hours. He had waited 8 hours to be assessed and had some blood work drawn at 0020,’ the assessment added. 

The doctor added that the nursing staff ‘had become concerned’ about Finlay, noting his pain was increasing and he had an elevated respiratory rate. 

‘In retrospect his oxygen saturations had been decreasing throughout the morning,’ the assessment added. 

Finlay’s condition continued to decline, and the hospital staff intubated him at 11:30 am, the statement of claim reads. 

‘That was the last time we saw Finlay conscious,’ his father recalled. 

Finlay suffered a cardiac arrest and was transferred to another hospital in Toronto, where he was connected to a machine that helps heart and lung function. 

The teen’s organs were infected with a bacterium called Staphylococcal, which instigated the pneumonia, according to his obituary. 

Finlay’s body went into sepsis, a life-threatening condition that occurs when a response to an infection damages tissues and organs. It causes the immune system to overreact and can eventually lead to organ failure. 

After hours of fighting, doctors informed Finlay’s parents that they could continue with life-supporting care, but warned that the teen may be in pain. 

GJ and Hazel made the heartbreaking decision to ‘let him go’ and Finlay succumbed to his illness after over a day of being in the hospital. 

His parents believe that Finlay could’ve been saved if hospital staff at Oakville had attended to him sooner before the sepsis spread. 

A year after his tragic death, Finlay’s parents embarked on a fight to decrease potentially life-threatening wait times. 

Hazel and GJ are advocating for the passage of Finlay’s Law, which would set a legal maximum standard for minors at the emergency room. 

His parents have started a petition to call on the local Ontario government to mandate that children receive a physician assessment within two hours and admission within eight hours. 

The petition also calls for a safe nurse-to-patient and physician-to-patient ratio, independent oversight to investigate pediatric ER deaths, and increased funding. 

Dr. Cheryl Williams, EVP Clinical Operations and Chief Nursing Executive, said in a statement to Daily Mail that Halton Healthcare extends its deepest condolences to Finlay’s family. 

The statement added that although the healthcare group doesn’t comment on individual patient cases, they are implementing measures to improve patient care including, an Emergency Department Working group, the Length of Stay committee, and a new command center. 

‘At Halton Healthcare, we are deeply committed to delivering high-quality, compassionate care to the communities we serve across all three of our hospitals,’ Williams said. 

‘Our Emergency Departments are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and are staffed by dedicated teams of physicians, nurses, and healthcare professionals who work tirelessly to care for patients.

‘Like many hospitals, we are seeing more patients presenting with increasingly complex health conditions and co-morbidities, often requiring longer stays and more intensive care. 

‘This places significant demand on our emergency departments, patient flow, bed availability and the patient experience.’

The family’s lawyer told Daily Mail that they are calling for a coroner’s inquest and ‘urgent reforms to pediatric emergency care’.

‘Finlay’s Law is about making sure no other family is ever put through what he has endured,’ Walker added.