About Eight Hours in a Crowded Edmonton ER, and a Reassessment Schedule Built for 10 to 12 Patients an Hour
Prashant Sreekumar, 44, died at Grey Nuns Community Hospital on Dec. 22, 2025, after collapsing in the ER while experiencing chest pain. He had waited about eight hours to be seen by a doctor, and a triage nurse described conditions in the Edmonton emergency room that day as noisy, unruly and crowded.
His death is being examined by Justice Randal Brandt at a fatality inquiry at the Edmonton Court of Justice.
Beil said a two- to three-minute reassessment every 30 minutes is supposed to let a nurse see about 10 to 12 patients an hour, leaving little possibility of meeting those timelines when more patients are waiting.
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That schedule assumes a quiet department. Reassessing patients within recommended time frames can be impractical exactly when waiting rooms are crowded, so the fuller the room gets, the further behind the clock falls.
Tightening the triage timetable may not be the fix. Shang said ERs cannot simply close their doors when they reach capacity, and called the department the canary in the coal mine — the place where problems from the broader health-care system ultimately surface.