Woman's death after failed COVID airlift attempt deemed critical incident, province confirms

Manitoba health officials have confirmed they're conducting an official critical incident investigation into the death of a seriously ill COVID-19 patient following a failed attempt to airlift her to Ontario. 

By the provincial government's definition, Krystal Mousseau suffered "serious and undesired" unintended consequences arising from the health services provided to her in May. 

Shared Health and Prairie Mountain Health are continuing to investigate her case, a spokesperson for the former said Thursday. 

Mousseau, 31, died May 25. 

• 'I didn't want her to go': Family says Manitoba mom with COVID-19 died after aborted Ontario airlift

• Manitoba investigating failed attempt at airlifting COVID-19 patient who died

In reporting the death, the province said a medically stable patient destabilized prior to takeoff to Ottawa. 

The patient was provided with care and returned to the local sending facility, the province said. 

Family identified Mousseau as the patient, and said a few days before the failed airlift she'd been placed into a medically-induced coma at the Brandon Regional Health Centre.

Manitoba's health system has struggled in recent weeks to make room for increasing numbers of COVID-19 patients needing intensive care, and has been sending patients to other provinces. 

Calls for an investigation into the death of a Manitoba coronavirus patient

4 years ago

Duration 2:28

The family of Krystal Mousseau a 31-year-old Manitoba woman who died en route to Ottawa says they didn’t give permission for her to be moved. They also claim doctors unilaterally took her off life support without their authorization…. after she “destabilized” during the trip.

The critical incident designation also means Mousseau's death didn't arise from an underlying health condition, nor from a risk inherent in providing health services, according to a Province of Manitoba online explainer. 

The focus of the resulting investigation will not be to lay blame, but instead uncover what could be done differently and improvements that could be made. Aspects of the investigative process are kept confidential to encourage frank and open communication from care providers about what happened, the Shared Health spokesperson said. 

'Something went wrong,' sister says 

Mousseau's family say they have many questions. 

"If it's a critical incident the big questions are what sort of mistake was made? How could they have prevented it? And was it a result of transport?" said Kristy Mousseau, Krystal's younger sister, in a written statement to CBC. 

The family has requested access to Krystal's health records and are waiting to hear back, Kristy says. 

"We are not satisfied. No, we are hurting and we want answers and we don't want this to be rolled out as a COVID death. Something went wrong in the care of my sister," she said. 

Shared Health also confirmed the air provider is also conducting an internal review into the case. The agency has not said which of the five contracted air-service providers it partners with was involved in the case.