Man believes wife's death preventable

Sep 7 2009

While other men were buying their wives flowers for Valentine's Day, Dale McIntyre was buying them for his wife's funeral.

Since then he has been looking for answers into why his wife Paula, who went in for a tummy tuck at the Chaleur Regional Hospital in Bathurst Feb. 2, died at home 10 days later.

Dale now has to raise his 15-year-old daughter alone, with another in university.

He believes Paula's death could have been prevented.

"It's a terrible waste of somebody's life."

It took him about five months to get his wife's autopsy report and although it lists acute massive pulmonary thromboemoli, which means a blood clot in her lung, as the cause of death, it doesn't tell the whole story.

Dale said after having three kids, Paula decided she wanted the surgery to tighten up the skin on her stomach, which would sometimes get infected around her belly button.

Dale said Paula wasn't sure if she would be able to have the surgery because of a condition she had that made her blood clot when she got too cold, but her doctor said she went through C-sections and a breast reduction surgery without any problems so she didn't foresee any problems.

"She thought it was not as bad."

But it did turn out bad and after the hospital released her, Paula dealt with back pain that kept her up at night and swelling in her legs to the point where they rubbed together when she walked.

Dale said she went to see the surgeon who did the tummy tuck in Bathurst and an emergency room doctor in Miramichi but neither of them admitted her to hospital so she went to her family physician.

"I could see the look of worry in her face that morning."

Paula thought her own doctor would admit her right away, but instead she gave her three prescriptions and when she went to the pharmacy to pick them up, the pharmacist asked if she was kicked by a horse because the prescriptions were so strong.

Dale wiped away tears as he talked about the night almost seven months ago when he was downstairs and heard her yell out from the bathroom upstairs where she had fallen.

When he went to see what had happened he found her on the floor and as he sat there with her she passed in and out of consciousness.

While Dale yelled as loud as he could for his daughter to call 911, Paula told him to be quiet so he didn't wake her.

"She wasn't thinking about what was happening."

Soon after, Paula started to shake as she struggled for breath and once she stopped breathing Dale performed CPR.

By the time the ambulance arrived it was too late.

"They came in and put the defibrillator on her and shocked her, but she wouldn't come to. She was too far gone."

Dale said she died in pain because nobody listened to her and her death could have been prevented.

"It was a terrible way to die, you know I find, myself. She died in vain."

Since Paula died, Dale spoke with the chief surgeon in Bathurst, who he said wouldn't give an opinion about what happened to Paula.

"It's not a trick question when you've got somebody's wife that died."

Dale's voice grew louder as he said Paula was in pain the whole time and called the surgeon the day after her release, called Telecare, went to outpatients, went to the surgeon again and finally her family doctor on the day she died.

"What else could my wife have done for her not to die? I don't know."

When they looked at the autopsy report they told Dale he was a very unlucky man, he said.

"I'm very unlucky? Look at her, she's gone. You don't know the pain a person goes through. For me, it's hard enough for myself. When I see my 15-year-old there, it's no words to describe it."

Dale said he has consulted a lawyer to see what his legal options are and has been in contact with the province's chief surgeon, the coroner and the Miramichi Regional Health Authority's risk manager Troy Hierlihy.

In an email sent in April, Hierlihy told Dale he would forward his concerns to the chief of emergency and the chief of staff for an investigation.

"I ask you to allow us sufficient time to adequately investigate the concerns brought forth," Hierlihy said in the email.

The email went on to say they would contact Dale once the investigation is complete, but Dale doesn't know if the doctors have been disciplined.

"They're still practicing, as far as I know."

The coroner told him they would look into the case, but he doesn't have a timeline for whether there will be a coroner's inquest, Dale said, although it doesn't mean there is going to be one.

"They just see it there as a number, but it's not a number for me. I have to answer to my 15-year-old and I have to look after the other one too. It's not an easy task. It ruined their lives. It ruined mine too. It will never be the same."

Dale said to add insult to injury he went in for carpal tunnel surgery since Paula's death and the procedure took about 10 minutes.

He was back home the same day and after the operation he received two calls to check up on how he was doing, he said.

His wife, on the other hand, was in pain for seven or eight days after her surgery with no one checking on her.

"She tried to get some help and nobody wanted to help her so she died. Does that make sense to you because it doesn't to me," he said.

Dale said the next step for him is to seek legal advice because it's the only option available to him.

"What am I to do?"

A few pictures of Paula wrapped in Dale's arms hang from magnets on the fridge as a reminder of happier times and the woman Dale said was so well liked they had to turn people away at the funeral because so many people attended.

"If you would have met her you would have liked her right away. You know, that smile and she was so happy and nice. She was like an angel. She was an angel. That's what I see now."

The next step for him is to seek further legal advice because it's the only option left while he tries to raise their daughter and send her to school, he said.

"Even though it won't it bring Paula back, it's like I told the coroner one time, what happened to me I wouldn't want to happen to anybody."

Dale said Paula was such a good-hearted person and always the first in line to help somebody else, but nobody helped her when she needed it.

"That's what's the worst part in my heart, knowing that she cried for help and nobody help her. It's hard to live with that. That's what I find worst about that. There's nothing else I could have done to save her."

Regional Health Authority A spokesperson Nicole Frigault said they looked into the situation in Bathurst and followed up with Dale, but could not comment further.

Miramichi Regional Health Authority nursing director Katherine Hennessy said patient complaints are handled by the patient satisfaction line, but she couldn't talk about a specific case.

"We understand that they are looking for answers, however due to patient confidentiality I cannot comment."

Dale said since Paula died, half of him is gone and people only see a shell of what he once was because the couple knew each other for more than 30 years.

"It's like I was to go there and cut your two legs off."

It has also been hard on their youngest daughter who has struggled to deal with Paula's death because they were so close, he said.

"Her mother to her was like her best friend to at that age."

Dale said he doesn't want Paula to have died for nothing and her death should help prevent it from happening to somebody else.

Even so, he still doesn't know any more than the day she died. 

"One thing, I ain't gonna leave it there. I'm not gonna go away because I need answers and I need it to put it to my peace," he said.