Heather Brenan didn't want to leave Winnipeg hospital, inquest told

Heather Brenan, who died hours after she was sent home from a Winnipeg hospital by taxi and left on the doorstep of her home, had not eaten properly in months and did not want to be discharged, a friend told an inquest into her death on Monday.

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The 68-year-old woman was driven home from Seven Oaks Hospital by a cab driver at around 11 p.m. CT on Jan. 27, 2012.

She did not have her house keys and collapsed outside her home. She was rushed back to hospital, but died shortly afterward from a blood clot that had moved to her lungs.

"Even if she was a healthy patient, at the end of January, being sent home without your house keys, you would've frozen to death," her daughter, Dana Brenan, told CBC News outside the Winnipeg courthouse, where the inquest began.

Nayda Northage, a friend of Brenan's who went with her to the hospital, told the inquest that Brenan had not wanted to be discharged.

She appeared ill and weak, she had lost 40 pounds in a month and had not eaten properly in four months, said Northage, who also testified that Brenan could not swallow solids.

Northage said she learned through another friend that Brenan was being sent home. Since she had a key to Brenan's home, she went there and waited for her to arrive.

When the taxi dropped Brenan off in the back lane, Northage said she helped her friend walk toward her home.

Brenan, who was moving slowly with a walker, fell face down to the ground, the inquest was told.

Northage said she called paramedics for help, and Brenan was rushed back to the hospital and admitted to the intensive care unit. She died the next day, on Jan. 28.

Bill Olson, a lawyer for the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, asked Northage during cross-examination if she was aware that Brenan was feeling better when she was discharged.

Olson also told the inquest that arrangements had been made for Northage to meet Brenan at home. Northage said she didn't recall that.

Daughter not contacted

The inquest heard earlier on Monday from Dana Brenan, who said her mother had been in the emergency room at Seven Oaks but was never given a bed.

Brenan told the inquest that she was in England at the time, but the hospital never contacted her to say her mother had been discharged from the hospital.

She said she was later told by an emergency room physician that there were no beds available for her mother at the time, as it was a "very busy January."

The ER seemed overwhelmed and her mother was seen as "an inconvenience," Brenan told the inquest.

As well, she said the head of the emergency department that night told her that doctors were "overwhelmed."

During cross-examination, Olson asked Brenan if she was aware that hospital beds are not offered on a first-come, first-served basis, but are given based on priority.

The lawyer also told the inquest that Heather Brenan had left a friend's contact number with hospital staff, and that there was no number given for Dana Brenan in England.

Brenan said staff did not have her phone number, but she had tried calling the hospital to leave one. Staff were too busy at the time, she said.

As the inquest began, Brenan told the panel about her mother's life, saying she worked at a local newspaper at one point and loved gardening and planting roses.

The woman said Sunday was difficult because it was Mother's Day. "It hurts too much," she said.

When provincial court Judge Margaret Wiebe, who is overseeing the inquest, asked Northage what changes she would recommend, Northage questioned whether any real change would come.

"It's fine to have recommendations, but who's the watchdog? How do you know if the recommendations are being done?" she asked.

Health authority says changes made

Months after Heather Brenan died, two other patients were sent home in taxis from another Winnipeg hospital, Grace Hospital, and died on their doorsteps.

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In a statement issued Monday afternoon, the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority says it introduced region-wide discharge policies for emergency departments following Brenan's death.

• Read the WRHA's full statement here

"Prior to these changes, some hospitals had guidelines while others did not, and there was inconsistency and variation across hospital sites," the statement reads in part.

"The introduction of regional guidelines allowed for greater focus on safe discharge planning and greater consistency in the discharge process."

However, the health authority has refused to share details of those changes with CBC News, saying they will be made public during the inquest.

Dana Brenan told the inquest on Monday that she also was not given details about the changes made to the hospital's discharge policy.

In its statement, the health authority also said it has made changes following the deaths of the two patients who had been discharged from Grace Hospital in 2013.

The health authority says it has developed an emergency department discharge checklist to ensure patients can manage safely when they return home, and has also revised its guidelines for transporting patients.

Brenan's lawsuit against Seven Oaks Hospital is on hold while the provincial inquest unfolds.

The inquest will hear testimony on Tuesday from doctors and nurses who treated Brenan. The inquest is expected to last three weeks.