A Woman Waited 20 Hours in an ER Only to Find Out She’d Had a Heart Attack
Long waits in emergency rooms spark frustration almost everywhere, and many people have their own stories about sitting for hours without receiving answers. Most have come to expect delays, but they also expect some sign of hurry to show that their condition is being taken seriously.
Last summer, one woman in Winnipeg arrived by ambulance because she felt unwell and needed help understanding what was happening. Instead, she spent the rest of the day and most of the night in a crowded ER with very little information. By the time she finally reached a proper treatment area, the situation had escalated far beyond what she thought she was dealing with.
A Long Wait With Serious Consequences
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Lori Stetina was brought to Grace Hospital in Winnipeg after calling an ambulance on July 3, 2025. She wasn’t placed on a stretcher. Paramedics wheeled her in, sitting upright in the back of the ambulance, and once inside the ER, she saw a line of patients waiting along the hall. Many were older adults sitting against the wall because there was no proper space available.
Her wait stretched past 20 hours. Admission didn’t happen until about 5 a.m. on July 4. She later said she was frightened because no one could tell her what was happening or how severe her condition might be.
Once she finally received testing, doctors told her she had experienced a mild heart attack. That alone would have justified urgent care, but there was another, more dangerous problem.
Imaging revealed a perforated bowel that had released material into her abdomen. Surgeons prepared her for immediate surgery. She woke up to find 19 staples across her stomach.
What Her Case Reveals About ER Overcrowding
Local health officials acknowledged the strain on Winnipeg emergency rooms in a statement issued after Stetina’s experience became public. The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority stated that it was collaborating with hospitals to improve patient flow, add staff where possible, and cut delays during admission and discharge. The measures included encouraging weekend discharges to open more beds.
Even with those steps, wait times remained high across the city. On the same week Stetina’s story resurfaced, St. Boniface Hospital listed wait times around 10 hours, and the Health Sciences Centre showed waits over 12 hours.
Dr. Noam Katz, an emergency physician in Winnipeg, said the city’s ER wait times had grown significantly over the past few years. He explained that long delays increase the odds of poor outcomes because staff cannot assess or treat people quickly enough. He also emphasized that the issue isn’t caused by one single failure but by a system stretched beyond its limits.
A Bigger National Problem
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Stetina’s case fits into a broader Canadian conversation about long waits in emergency care and treatment backlogs. National reporting from earlier in the year showed tens of thousands of Canadians died while waiting for surgeries or diagnostic scans between 2018 and 2024.
Advocacy groups argue that the system needs more focus on prevention, early patient support, and access to family doctors who can intervene before conditions deteriorate.
Steven Staples of the Canadian Health Coalition pointed out that when cases like Stetina’s surface, they should prompt detailed reviews followed by policy changes. He argued that better continuity of care could prevent many people from visiting emergency rooms by catching problems sooner.
A Personal Story With Wide Implications
Stetina said the experience left her shaken. She didn’t know what was happening for most of the night, and when hospital staff finally called her husband, the call ended abruptly because she had to be rushed into surgery. She later said she wished someone had explained her situation earlier.
Her case added pressure to an already difficult public discussion in Canada about the gap between the ideal of universal healthcare and the reality of accessing it. Long waits don’t always lead to tragic outcomes, but the risk grows when patients with serious conditions sit untreated for hours.