Sudbury woman says hospital failed to tell her about her brother's death

A woman from Sudbury says at least 12 hours had passed since her brother died in hospital, before the Health Sciences North (HSN) hospital delivered her the news.

"I had received a message on Saturday Nov. 30 in the morning from my niece who had messaged me asking if I had spoken to her father," Angela Vitiello told CBC News.

Viietello said she suspected her brother, Allan St. Martin, might have been at the hospital.

"My brother had diabetes and sometimes he didn't manage it very well, and he would tend to go to the hospital sometimes for help managing his diabetes," she said.

Both Vitiello and her niece called the hospital and a clerk at the emergency department told them there was no one by her brother's name who had been admitted that day.

Later that day, Vitiello said she got a voicemail from a doctor at the HSN asking her to call the hospital about her brother.

She said the same clerk told her there was no one by her brother's name admitted at the hospital, and asked that she not call again.

But Vitiello said when she told the clerk about the message from a doctor, she was then told that her brother had been admitted to the emergency department, had been released that afternoon.

"So around 3 p.m. I received a phone call from a different doctor at HSN telling me that my brother had come by ambulance Friday evening complaining of shortness of breath, that he had gone into cardiac arrest and that they had shocked his heart twice and were unsuccessful," she said.

"He had passed away."

Vitiello said that call came 12 hours after the initial voicemail from the doctor, asking her to call the hospital.

Before she received confirmation from the hospital that her brother was in fact admitted to the emergency department and died of a cardiac arrest, Vitiello said she was ready to file a missing person's report.

"We even called the jail," she said.

Vitiello said someone from patient relations at the hospital eventually apologized and explained that the clerk who initially answered her calls was not properly trained on how to read the code tied to her brother's case.

HSN can't comment on specific case

In a statement to CBC News, HSN said it could not comment on the case due to patient privacy.

"However, we strive to provide high quality compassionate care at all times to our patients and families," the statement said.

"When we receive complaints, our leadership team conducts a thorough exam of the patient's care and experience to understand what happened, what gaps may exist, and plans are developed to address those gaps to ensure the care we provide is up to the standards we set out as an organization. We deeply apologize to anyone who has a negative experience at HSN , and encourage them to contact our patient relations team which helps to support patients and families through the complaint process."

Vitiello said her family hasn't been able to properly grieve the loss of Allan, and she hopes her experience brings positive change to the hospital.

When she posted about her experience on Facebook, she said many people in the community shared similar experiences.

"There needs to be some accountability here where this doesn't continue to happen to family, after family, after family. It's a broken system," she said.