36 hour wait for emergency surgery in Ontario

A couple is speaking out about the health care crisis in Ontario after a harrowing experience receiving emergency medical care for their child.

Julia Malott, who chronicled the agonizing effort it took to get their daughter's emergency surgery this week, shared it in a viral post on X (formerly Twitter), calling Ontario's health care system "broken and Incapacitated" he read.

Malott's daughter was brought to St. Mary's General Hospital in Kitchener, Ont., Sunday night with excruciating abdominal pain. Although they reached the hospital at 10 pm, it took 4 hours for the doctor to visit their daughter and give her painkillers.

Malott explained in her post that although it was clear by 4 a.m. that their daughter was likely suffering from appendicitis, it took another four hours for ultrasound technicians to arrive.

During this time, the patient had to give up his emergency room bed to another patient. It wasn't until 10 a.m.—a full 12 hours after arriving at the hospital—that Malott's daughter was finally diagnosed with appendicitis.

The problem was that St. Mary's Hospital claimed it didn't have the necessary facilities for that routine surgery, and nearby Grand River Hospital also lacked emergency beds.

Mallot's daughter finally underwent surgery on Monday night after almost a full day of waiting and is now recovering.

In a video, Mallott addressed Premier Doug Ford, Deputy Premier Sylvia Jones and the entire Ontario provincial government about the two hospitals and the terrible care they provided.

My experience with a system that is not equipped to handle medical emergencies was heartbreaking, he said. This perception is bad for all the people of Ontario. As nurses enter retirement age, we will need more health care professionals in the next two decades than we have seen in this province.

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