Vancouver woman left helpless on bus after stroke

AVancouverwoman says she was left unattended for two hours in the front seat of a bus after she suffered a stroke during a ride in June.

"I felt very scared … I just prayed and hoped someone would help me," said Nadine Laughlin, who is now partially paralyzed.

Her familyis seeking "some sort of an explanation and an apology," said her husband,Mark Laughlin.

In an interview with CBC News on Thursday, the woman said that at about 11 a.m. on June 22, she boarded a No. 22 bus, which runs from MacDonald Street to Knight Street.

She was sitting in the front left seat behind the driver, with a blind separating the two.

Laughlin said she felt something was wrong with her body and then the stroke came over her.

"I was trying to get the driver's attention or some other person on the bus who would help me," she said. "There were people on the bus and they didn't help me."

Farrah Shay Dawn was on that bus and saw the woman in distress. She said she sensed something was wrong but hoped the bus driver might intervene.

"I saw a woman who looked very confused," Dawn told CBC News. "We saw her go to the back of the bus like she was about to get off and look all distressed as if she didn't know where she was —you know —slightly panicky, and then went back and sat at the seat that's next to the bus driver, the furthest one up, so at the time I thought, 'Well, he's up there, I'm sure he's dealing with it.' "

"She was pretty demonstrative in her confusion and her distress so I assumed he was aware that there was someone near him in that state and at some point they would discuss where she's going or where she wanted to get off," she said.

"I guess I wish I had known and helped her. At the same time, I felt that you see so many different things on the bus every day and do not always rush up to deal with those behaviours and reactions."

Eventually, the bus reached the end of the route on Knight Street and Marine Drive, where the driver was supposed to check the bus, but did not, according to Laughlin.

Laughlin said she was "really angry at the bus driver" but was not certain if the driver saw her before he continued on his return route.

During the return ride Laughlin saidshe began to vomit but still no one helped her. It was only aftershe "threw herself on the floor" that an ambulance was called.

The Laughlins said they tried for three weeks to talk directly to Coast Mountain Bus Company but to avail.

When contacted by CBC News on Thursday, Doug McDonald, director of communications for thebus company, said, "The first we heard of the situation is a call from you."

The bus company has no record of any messages from the Laughlins — only a report of the ambulance call, he said.

"What we do know is that we called an ambulance for it at about 1:05 p.m. She had a seizure," McDonald said.

"If she was on a bus for an hour-and-a half and after suffering a stroke … clearly it's tragic and unfortunate and we do apologize if that happened, if in fact that was the case," he said.

The company saiddrivers are supposed to check for passengers at the end of the line and it will further investigate what happened.