The family of 81-year-old George Litman wants answers after was sent home by St. Mary's Hospital while complaining of chest pain. He died of an apparent heart attack the following day.
His family says the hospital should have kept him in the hospital because of his symptoms.
On Jan. 11, Litman returned from a walk complaining of chest pain and sweats. The hospital admitted him that afternoon and did a series of tests and scans and found his heart was enlarged.
He was discharged from the hospital that night, still having chest pain. Doctors told him he would be fine. The next day he woke up and the chest pain hadn’t gone away. He was found dead around midday.
“Once the doctors checked him out and said everything was fine we thought, well the doctor said he's OK then he should be OK, because in this world we live in we're taught to trust what the doctor says and not to question that,” said his grandson Joshua Waisgrus.
His family says Litman was healthy and never had health issues before. They are thinking of getting a lawyer; they believe the hospital should have known better and should have done more.
“In hindsight, if an 81-year-old is still complaining of chest pains even after the tests, we feel that he should have been kept at least 24 hours to see what happened,” Waisgrus said.
The hospital is not commenting. This is the second controversial death at the hospital in the last few months – in November, Mark Blandford died when he arrived at the hospital complaining of abdominal pain which turned out to be from a rupture in his aorta. He was transferred to the MUHC’s Glen site after a surgeon said he was not authorized to perform the surgery he needed.
The office of the Quebec coroner is now investigating Blandford’s death.
